Aflabox secures US$1.6M seed funding to grow AI food safety platform in Africa
The investment will support expansion in Kenya and Nigeria as demand grows for faster aflatoxin testing.
KENYA/NIGERIA – Italian food safety startup Aflabox has raised €1.35 million in seed funding, about US$1.58 million, to expand its AI based food safety platform and increase its presence in key agricultural markets, including Kenya and Nigeria.
The equity round came through FoodSeed, part of CDP Venture Capital SGR’s accelerator network and managed by Eatable Adventures, with participation from Future Farming.
Founded by Luca Alinovi and Fabrizio Cardillo, Aflabox combines portable hardware, UV and white light imaging, artificial intelligence and geolocated data to test crops for mycotoxins and assess commercial quality. The company says users can generate and share results in less than 90 seconds, reducing the need to send samples to distant laboratories.
The funding will support device validation and certification, improve detection accuracy, establish a new micro factory, grow the team and support commercial expansion across Italy, Kenya and Nigeria.
The investment comes as interest in rapid aflatoxin testing grows in Kenya, where millers and grain suppliers continue to face losses linked to slow laboratory testing.
According to the Cereal Millers Association, suppliers often deliver grain before laboratory results become available, only to learn later that aflatoxin contamination exceeds accepted limits.
“The industry has grappled with aflatoxin contamination for years, despite ongoing efforts including self regulation and improved quality controls. We have been working to address this problem, but it remains significant,” said CMA Chief Executive Paloma Fernandes.
Kizito Odhiambo, founder and CEO of Agri Bora, said grain suppliers also face costly product rejections because they cannot test grain quickly during aggregation.
“One of the main challenges we have been facing as an aggregate has been the challenge of assessing the quality of the grain during aggregation at the field level,” he said.
“You realise that maize has high aflatoxin when it is too late, and delivery has already been done, meaning you have to look for other options.”
Following its introduction to the Kenyan market during the CMA Annual Technical Conference and Expo 2026, Aflabox has received growing interest from local millers and grain aggregators. The company expects to supply between 200 and 300 units to Kenya’s private sector this year.
“We got a lot of exposure during the expo, which has now seen us come in to give a solution,” Alinovi said.
“We also intend to engage the government and we are ready to deliver if it needs the technology.”
An Aflabox unit costs US$5,000 with an annual subscription of US$100.
The company enters the market as millers continue to call for wider use of data based food safety tools. Previous studies show that many maize flour samples sold in urban areas contain detectable aflatoxin levels, while 16 percent exceed Kenya’s regulatory limit of 10 parts per billion. The contamination continues to affect maize, peanuts and dairy products, raising concerns about food safety, public health and export trade.
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