Prosus leads $1.5M pre-seed for restaurant AI startup Emilia AI
What's the deal? Emilia AIDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, an artificial intelligence startup for restaurants, raised $1.5 million in a pre-seed round led by ProsusDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, the group that owns iFood. Prosus put in $1 million; the remaining $500,000 came from undisclosed technology angel investors.
What does it do? Emilia AI adds a layer of AI on top of the security cameras a restaurant already has, cross-referencing what the camera sees — table status, customer behaviour, staff movement — with point-of-sale data. It runs agents on that combination: Coach flags upsell misses in real time, while Sentinel works as antifraud software, catching dishes leaving the kitchen without hitting the till.
Who's behind it? Founded in 2024 by Colombians Andrés Cajiao (chief executive officer) and Sebastian Rojo (chief technology officer), the US-based startup counts Brazil as its main market. “Emilia was built to be the owner's eyes on the restaurant floor, even when they're not there,” Cajiao said (translated from Portuguese).
What's the endgame? The money will fund product development and expansion in Brazil, where many restaurants still run basic point-of-sale software, before extending across Latin America. Emilia is targeting a structural problem: a Brazilian bar or restaurant replaces its entire staff every 16 months, a turnover rate above 70% a year.
Why now? The infrastructure is already installed but underused, with cameras recording activity yet errors spotted only after something goes wrong. The company's bet is that if the tool helps waiters sell and earn more, it eases turnover through pay.
Emilia points to two pilots. At the Alife NinoDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → group, which runs more than 100 venues in Brazil, a pilot generated roughly 28 times return on investment — about $300 in additional revenue per table each month against US$6.47 cost per table. At Jin JinDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, an iFood franchise chain, Sentinel identified fraud such as unauthorised stockroom visits and register shortfalls; the chain is now scaling to more than 77 stores.
The signal: The deal deepens Prosus Ventures' thesis of building a tech ecosystem around restaurants, moving from delivery into what happens inside the establishment itself.
Read more: startups.com.br
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
