Former Interfood trader launches AI broker for the dairy commodity market

Dairy-Broker.ai, an AI-native broker for dairy commodity trading, opened its public waitlist ahead of the 12 May launch. Traders interact with an AI broker called Bo directly over WhatsApp. Founder Rik Hanssen has a decade of dairy trading experience across Numidia, Millbrook and Interfood. It takes on long-standing frictions in dairy trading: limited market visibility, slow counterparty matching, and the fact that every bid carries your name with it.

“Your market view is basically your contact list,” says Hanssen. “No matter how long you’ve been in this industry, there are parts of the market you simply can’t see from where you sit. That’s one of the problems I wanted to solve. “

The global dairy commodity market moves billions a year, yet still runs on phone calls and personal relationships. Counterparty matching can take hours or days, price discovery is fragmented, and no central record of activity exists.

The new broker runs on two engines: execution and intelligence. On the execution side, Bo (the AI broker) sources counterparties, relays offers, negotiates terms and confirms trades from inquiry to signed deal. On the intelligence side, every interaction contributes to a live picture of the market, with real-time price benchmarks, supply and demand indicators, and origin analysis available to participants as activity grows.

Dairy-Broker.ai is designed around how dairy deals actually happen, in conversation, rather than through a marketplace traders log into. Trading takes place on WhatsApp, with a dashboard alongside showing each user their trade history, personal analytics and, as activity builds, the live market intelligence layer.

Dairy-Broker.ai is designed to complement the relationships that define the industry, not replace them. Two things set it apart from traditional brokerage and existing commodity marketplaces: anonymity and the block list. Counterparty identities stay confidential until both sides confirm a deal. And users can name counterparties they prefer not to trade with, privately and no explanation required.

“The dairy world is small. Everyone talks. The moment you put a name on a bid, the whole industry knows,” Hanssen says. “We built this so you can ask, indicate and place a bid. Your name only shows once both sides have confirmed the deal.”

On the commercial side, Hanssen is direct: “Today the standard is: the more you trade, the more you pay in fees. We believe that’s twisted, so instead of punishing trading volume, we reward it.”

Hanssen is open about his own earlier AI skepticism. Bo was held back until he could perform at the level the market demands, on specifications, incoterms and pricing logic. The first public round is capped at 50 spots, focused on the European market. Once filled, enrolment closes until September. The waitlist is filling quickly, with established names in dairy trading among the early signups. Later this year, it will expand to Telegram and other channels, and the full market intelligence layer goes live. From 2027, Dairy-Broker.ai opens up globally.