Food shopping often results in bad choices and wasted food. Mealia is an AI Grocery Agent that plans meals and shops for groceries for you.
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Founders: Gabriel Corbett and Rish ChowdhryYear founded: 2022Website: mealia.co.uk
Food insecurity and increasing costs are hitting families across the UK hard. While pivoting from another business idea, Mealia founders Gabriel Corbett and Rish Chowdhry decided they could do something to help.
The Mealia app makes it easier for families by creating a meal plan and a grocery basket for selected supermarkets. The app mitigates the time pressure, choice overwhelm and financial restraints that were forcing families into making poor choices that then impacted their health.
“Every household faces the daily challenge of deciding what to eat and buy,” say the founders. “It’s the most important decision we make each day for ourselves and our families, yet also one of the most complex”.
Every household faces the daily challenge of deciding what to eat and buy,
For time and money-poor households, the app uses AI to shop both economically and efficiently. “They share their needs and available resources, and the app creates a meal plan and grocery basket from selected supermarkets – optimised for cost, health, and sustainability – in seconds,” the team adds.
The venture got off the ground with a small grant from the Mayor of London, the city where the duo was based, and they then raised a pre-seed round with participation from Founders Factory, Nesta, Angel Invest, and a group of experienced angel backers.
The team has also worked with charities and local authorities across the country to give access to the app. Having now reached 100,000 users, the startup wants to be “the default way the world decides what to eat and buy”, partnered with every major supermarket and embedded into national health and sustainability strategies. Already, it has earned affiliate agreements with Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, and Morrisons.
Every week we spend 30 minutes with six different users, and it’s humbling to hear how Mealia is making life easier for families across the country,
Beyond growth, though, the business is most proud of its customer feedback. “Every week we spend 30 minutes with six different users, and it’s humbling to hear how Mealia is making life easier for families across the country,” the founders say proudly.
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