Ordering food supplies for a professional kitchen still looks the same as it did 20 years ago. Chefs call multiple distributors, negotiate prices without visibility, and manually track orders across spreadsheets or phone calls. Saltz.app is a digital marketplace built to fix exactly that, and it just raised €20 million in Series A funding to scale the solution.
The Vilnius-based startup connects professional kitchens directly with verified food suppliers on a single platform. The platform consolidates supplier catalogues, ordering, payments, and logistics into one interface, available through both a browser and mobile app. That means a chef can browse products, compare supplier prices, place an order, and track delivery without leaving the platform.
Founded by Marketplace Veterans:
Saltz was founded in 2022 by Tomas Šlimas, Andrius Šlimas, and Reinis Strodahs. Tomas and Andrius previously built Oberlo, the drop shipping service that was acquired by Shopify. That background matters. Building a B2B marketplace at global scale requires deep knowledge of supplier relationships, logistics coordination, and cross-border payment infrastructure, all areas where the founding team already had hands-on experience.
Co-founder Andrius Šlimas put it directly: restaurants and suppliers still rely heavily on intermediaries, which wastes time and pushes margins up. Saltz is focused on building a transparent, simple marketplace that connects chefs directly with suppliers across Europe and beyond.
A €20 Million Series A Round:
The Series A round was supported by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Inovo.vc, Lifeline Ventures, and Change Ventures, with participation from Mantas Mikuckas (co-founder of Vinted), Miki Kuusi (founder of Wolt), several Shopify executives, and other strategic angels.
That investor lineup reflects real confidence from people who have built category-defining marketplaces before. Wolt transformed food delivery logistics across Europe. Vinted reshaped secondhand retail. Having founders of those companies back Saltz.app points to the size of the opportunity the team is targeting in the food supply sector.
Operating Across 20 Countries:
Saltz currently operates in 20 countries, providing chefs with access to a range of fresh and frozen meat and seafood products. That geographic footprint, built before this funding round, reflects solid early traction for a startup founded just three years ago.
Early restaurant and hotel clients have included Hilton, Marriott, and several independent dining groups. Signing enterprise hospitality clients at the seed stage is a strong signal of product-market fit in a category where trust and reliability are non-negotiable.
How Saltz Approaches Food Procurement:
The core problem Saltz targets is fragmentation. Restaurants often rely on multiple distributors, deal with hidden pricing, and use manual ordering processes. Suppliers also struggle to reach customers efficiently or provide additional services such as payment terms and logistics.
Saltz.app addresses both sides of that equation. On the buyer side, chefs get a single platform with verified supplier catalogues and transparent pricing. On the supplier side, they get direct access to professional kitchens across Europe without depending on regional intermediaries. This type of B2B food procurement model has worked well in adjacent categories, and Saltz is applying it specifically to fresh and specialty food distribution.
Plans for the New Funding:
With this funding, Saltz plans to accelerate expansion across Europe, invest in cross-border food trade technology, and grow its team by over 100 people by the end of 2026. Hiring will span engineering, product, sales, and operations.
The focus on cross-border infrastructure is worth noting. Moving food across European borders involves currency differences, regulatory requirements, and cold chain logistics. Building technology that handles those layers cleanly is a real technical challenge, and it is the kind of infrastructure that, once built, becomes hard for competitors to replicate quickly.
The Bigger Picture for RestaurantTech:
The restaurant industry has seen digital tools move into areas like reservations, point-of-sale systems, and delivery apps. The procurement side of the business has lagged. Most food sourcing for professional kitchens is still highly manual, especially for fresh and specialty products like meat and seafood.
Platforms like Saltz.app that address restaurant supplier relationships are becoming a growing category in FoodTech. For startup operators and investors tracking where B2B marketplace infrastructure is still underdeveloped, food distribution in Europe is one of the clearest remaining gaps. You can explore other funded B2B marketplace startups making moves in Europe for broader context on this trend.
Saltz.app is now one of the better-funded players in that space, with a team that has marketplace-building experience, institutional and strategic investors behind it, and a live product already operating across 20 markets. The Series A gives it the resources to move from regional traction to continental infrastructure.
