New Grocer-Backed VC Promises to Reinvigorate Foodtech
New Grocer-Backed VC Promises to Reinvigorate Foodtech
Brooklyn Dumpling Shop fundraises, Standard AI's new suite, Walmart AV forklifts
Wow, what a big week: we’ve got a huge new VC promising to shake up the industry, startups scoring new funding, and some innovative new product launches. Read on!
New Fund — W23 Global — Aims to Shake Up Retail Tech
Five global-scale grocers are teaming up to pump new investment dollars into the world of retail and supermarket technology. Dubbed W23 Global, the VC collective is backed by Ahold Delhaize, Tesco, Woolworths Group, Empire Co. Ltd./Sobeys Inc, and Shoprite Group. W23 Global will seek to invest in start-ups and scale-ups deploying technology to:
Benefit consumers by driving faster, more personalized and connected experiences across stores and online;
Create more efficient grocery value chains to the benefit of all stakeholders;
Address the grocery industry’s biggest sustainability challenges from farm to household, including emissions and waste reduction, packaging innovation, product traceability and transparency, healthy choices and biodiversity.
The group will be HQed out of the United Kingdom, and aims to deploy $125 million (USD) over the next five years.
Brooklyn Dumping Shop Raises Funds with New CEO
Neo-automat Brooklyn Dumping Shop has a new CEO, Jeff Galletly, who previously served a number of executive roles at fast food giants like Tim Hortons and Burger King. While the 11-unit chain just closed a Series A investment from Kevin O’Leary and prolific food investor Matt Higgins, it’s on the hunt for even more capital. Towards that end, the startup plans to go public via a reverse takeover, on the Canadian stock market.
Standard AI Debuts Vision Analytics Platform
Camera-based retail tracking may have suffered a bit of a blow after Amazon scaled back its Just Walk Out initiative, but perhaps there are better uses for in-store vision systems. Standard AI seems to think that’s the case, with the launch of Vision Analytics. This platform promises to let retailers measure:
Traffic & Impressions: Gain insights into foot traffic patterns and shopper interactions, allowing for optimized store layouts and promotional strategies.
Availability & Out-of-Stocks: Identify low-stocks and out-of-stocks, minimizing lost sales opportunities and enhancing shopper satisfaction.
Conversion Percentages and Sales: Effectively track conversion rates, sales performance, and where shopper interactions occur within stores, including displays vs home locations.
Enhanced Merchandising Tests: Conduct data-driven A/B tests to evaluate the effectiveness of merchandising strategies, ensuring maximum impact on consumer behavior.
Walmart Rolls out Autonomous Forklifts
After a 16 month pilot, Walmart taking its autonomous forklift deployment to new locations nationwide. The AV forklifts are powered by Austin-based Fox Robotics, which Walmart is also investing growth capital into. These FoxBots work alongside automated storage and retrieval systems inside the same warehouse. Walmart also just announced a new AV advisory council with Kodiak Robotics, alongside UPS and Werner.)
Cool Jobs Alert
Walmart is looking for a Director, Automation Engineering - Drone Delivery, based out of their Bentonville HQ. Pipedream Labs has four job openings, on both the biz dev and engineering sides of things, based out of Austin.
Photo of the Week
OttOmate spied a Cafe X robotic coffee shop looking awfully forlorn in San Francisco International Airport. While the machine has been there a bit over two years, it sure seems like the novelty wasn’t enough to draw in many curious travelers. The terminal has a good dozen or so other (human powered) purveyors of quick caffeine nearby, and we can’t say Cafe X seemed to be the cost effective option either. Maybe their competition is having a bit of better luck?
In Other News
The rise (and fall?) of food robotics. Republican pause their dystopian debut of the Liberty in Laundry Act and the Refrigerator Freedom Act to focus on slightly more meaningful problems. Meet the bots slicing up your BBQ. Amazon’s annual shareholder letter talks up Prime Air drone delivery. Tour America’s last matzah factory.