A vegan cheese company caught its shippers overcharging. AI got back $400,000.

The business

Rebel Cheese (Austin, Texas)

A small company that makes vegan cheese and ships it to customers. CEO Kirsten Maitland runs it with a lean team. Mark Cuban put $750,000 into the company.

The problem

After a busy holiday season, Maitland found that the shipping companies were overcharging her. By her estimate, it was $250,000. There were too many bills to check by hand. "I don't think even if I did hire two full-time people, I don't think they would even find all of these discrepancies because it's just so much data," she says.

The bot or tool

A shipping-bill checker she built with AI

Maitland set up an AI agent that reads every shipping bill and checks it against the company's contract. Fortune doesn't name the AI tool she used.

How they set it up

1. Every week, her assistant uploads the shipping bills along with the contract. The contract lists the prices for each zone, weight and box size.
2. The agent checks every line of every bill and flags anything that doesn't match the contract.
3. It also looks at photos of the boxes. A box that bulges by as little as an eighth of an inch can set off a big extra charge.
4. For each mistake it finds, the agent gives Maitland the proof. She uses it to dispute the charge and get a credit.

A person still checks the work. Both Maitland and her assistant work with the agent.

The result

• All in all, the agent has saved the company $400,000, Fortune reports.
• A Fortune heading says it saves $40,000 a month. Maitland says it has dipped below $40,000 lately, and she thinks that's because the shippers know the tool is catching mistakes.
• "As a small-business owner, I do feel like AI gives us advantages similar to what large companies have," Maitland says. "It levels the playing field and gives us similar opportunities."

Hours saved

not stated

Money made or saved

$400,000 saved, Fortune reports

Source

A Mark Cuban-backed vegan cheese firm trained AI to scrutinize cardboard boxes. It’s saved $400,000

Fortune (news), May 1, 2026. The $250,000 overcharge is the owner's own estimate. The $400,000 is what Fortune reports from talking to her. Fortune doesn't name the AI tool.