Tuidi Closes A €3 Million Seed Round To Accelerate The Digital Transformation Of Italy’s Grocery Retail Industry

Italy’s grocery retail industry is a cornerstone of the national economy: in 2024, it generated over €135 billion, accounting for nearly 6% of the country’s GDP. It is, however, an industry still hampered by inefficiencies stemming from suboptimal data management.

This is where Tuidi, the Apulian foodtech company, steps in. Through its artificial intelligence platform, it tackles the challenge of making store management more automated and economically efficient.

To strengthen its growth trajectory, Tuidi has completed a €3 million capital increase, subscribed by two institutional investors: Vertis SGR, through its funds Vertis Venture 6 Digital Sud partially financed by the European Union’s Next Generation EU and Vertis Venture 7 Digital Puglia; and Azimut, through the funds Azimut Eltif Venture Capital ALIcrowd III and IV and Azimut Digital Equity Italy, all managed by Azimut Libera Impresa SGR. The round also saw participation from QBerg, a key player in market research and price intelligence, which will also act as a strategic partner in Tuidi’s development plan.

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“At the core of Tuidi’s offering is Delphi, the platform that acts as a ‘store controller’,” explains Giulio Martinacci, co-founder of Tuidi. “It’s a system that provides daily recommendations on how to manage procurement, sell-out pricing, assortment, and staff scheduling.”

With this funding, the startup aims to strengthen its position as a technological brand in the market, further enhancing its products through AI agents and generative AI.

Adding to this Vincenzo Morelli co-founder of Tuidi highlights: “The heart of our solution lies in our proprietary machine learning models, which process millions of data points and combine internal and external variables to anticipate consumer purchasing behaviors and optimize store operations.”

The impact of Tuidi’s technology is already evident in its clients’ results: sales increases of up to +2% and order cost reductions of up to -10%. With over 620 million products managed through Delphi, the company has already helped reduce waste, improve sales performance, and boost operational efficiency for leading retailers such as Conad Centro Nord, Maiora, Retail Pro, Ama Crai Est and Gruppo Romano.

Tuidi aims to lead the daily transformation of Italy’s grocery retail sector translating complex data into concrete operational decisions for stores.

“Food is one of Italy’s most iconic and globally recognized industries,” the founders explain, “and our goal is to make it a model of technological innovation as well a country where foodtech is not just a future promise, but a real driver of competitiveness, sustainability, and quality for both consumers and retailers.”

Financial partners also stress the importance of concrete and scalable solutions to address the inefficiencies of large-scale retail.

According to Giacomo Giurazza, Partner at Vertis SGR, the value of innovation is already visible in consumers’ everyday experience:

“As a consumer, I see problems in supermarkets every day from empty shelves to prices that don’t meet expectations. Tuidi shows that cutting-edge technology can tackle these real issues. That’s why we want to support them on their growth journey, helping bring Italy’s grocery industry to higher standards of efficiency and innovation.”

Guido Bocchio, Head of Venture Capital at Azimut Libera Impresa, adds:
“With over 28,000 stores across Italy, the grocery retail market offers significant room for improvement. More than 7% of revenues are eroded by inefficiencies such as stockouts and waste, which undermine retailers’ competitiveness. Tuidi offers a concrete opportunity to address this problem.”

Finally, Fabrizio Pavone, founder and CEO of QBerg, emphasizes the strategic value of the partnership:

“QBerg’s investment in Tuidi is not just financial it’s a commitment to supporting a tech company capable of reshaping the dynamics of the retail sector. The sophistication of their technology convinced us to embark on a shared journey aimed at supporting their expansion and strengthening their growth during a crucial phase for the industry’s evolution.”