Close Ad

The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

crisp

The Food & Retail AI Rollup Continues as Crisp Buys Shelf Engine

Crisp, a New York-based retail data company, has acquired Seattle-based startup Shelf Engine. Founded in 2016 by Stefan Kalb and Bede Jordan, Shelf Engine specializes in using machine learning to optimize ordering processes for perishable goods, with the goal of reducing costs and minimizing food waste. The platform is now in use across more than 7,000 stores. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Shelf Engine was one of the earliest adopters of AI technology in food retail aimed at reducing waste and optimizing fresh food ordering. Kalb, who launched a food distribution business at 23 and holds degrees in actuarial science and economics, developed the idea during a 2014 ski trip with his friend and engineer Bede Jordan, a former Microsoft HoloLens developer. The pair questioned why food industry processes and systems remained outdated:

“Could we create a platform that enables retailers to buy food and eliminate significant waste? Could we create a platform that eliminates redundant busywork between vendors and retailers? Could we create a more perfect marketplace?”

These questions led Kalb and Jordan to develop a product designed to drive the food industry towards greater efficiency through technology.

Kalb reflected on the deal on LinkedIn:

“What started as a side project with my good friend Bede turned into a platform that’s now in over 7,000 stores across the U.S., helping reduce millions of pounds of food waste. It’s been eight years of wild highs, humbling challenges, and so much growth.”

Crisp plans to integrate Shelf Engine’s advanced algorithms into its commerce platform. The company believes the integration will help its retailer customers optimize in-stock inventory, improve shelf management, and drive revenue in an increasingly margin-sensitive retail environment.​

“Joining forces with Crisp allows us to scale our proven technology and deliver greater value to retailers and their supplier partners,” said Kalb. “Together, we will set a new standard in forecasting and inventory management, helping our customers thrive even in challenging market conditions.”​

This news is yet another in a series of acquisition announcements for early pioneers who are building technology leveraging AI to optimize different parts of the food value chain. Earlier this month AI Palette was gobbled up by trend forecaster Global Data, and before that Spoonshot was acquired by Target. Like other buyers in these deals, Crisp provides predictive intelligence software and services and is buying Shelf Engine to improve their AI insights capabilities.

Unlike these previous deals, Crisp and Shelf Engine focus more on retail and supply chain commerce optimization, which is one of the areas that is seeing the greatest leaps forward in productivity and cost-reduction. My guess is Afresh, which is similar to Shelf Engine and remains independent following its $115 million in series B funding in 2022, may also be one of the next companies gobbled up as bigger software and supply chain players look to add AI capabilities to their products.

Instacart, Crisp, Rohlik, Flink. Online Grocery Gets Funding in the U.S. and Europe

Apparently investors have been shopping for online grocery startups, as there was a spate of funding news in the sector across North America and Europe over the last 12 hours.

Grocery delivery service Instacart raised another $265 million from existing investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, D1 Capital Partners, Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC, and T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. This brings the total amount raised by Instacart to roughly $2.6 billion and values the company at $39 billion.

Over in the Czech Republic, online grocer Rohlik raised €190 million (~$230 million USD) in a round led by Partech with participation from Index Ventures, the EBRD, Quadrille Capital, J&T Bank, R2G, and Enern. According to TechCrunch, Rohlik offers items that it buys itself wholesale, as well as offering goods in concert with existing retailers. The company will use the funds to expand across its existing service areas (the Czech Republic, Hungary and Austria) and into new markets (Germany, Poland, Romania).

In the Netherlands, Dutch grocer Crisp announced that it has raised a €30 million (~$36 million USD) Series B round of funding led by Target Global with participation from Keen Venture Partners and others. EU-Startups reports that Crisp offers fresh seasonal ingredients sourced locally and delivered in one hour across the Netherlands. This brings the total amount raised by Crisp to €46 million (~$55 million USD) since 2018.

And finally, German delivery-only grocer Flink announced that it has raised $52 million in seed funding. TechCrunch writes that Target Global led this funding as well, along with participation from Northzone Cherry Ventures and TriplePoint Capital. This brings the total amount raised by Flink to $64 million, as the company is expanding beyond Germany and into France and the Netherlands.

Investment in the online grocery space has been frothy since the start of the year. In the U.K., Weezy raised $20 million. Here in the U.S., Good Eggs raised $100 million and Imperfect Foods raised $110 million. But all these deals pale next to Chinese grocery app Xingsheng Youxuan, which raised $2 billion.

Why so much money? Partly it’s because the pandemic and limited trips outside our homes pushed people into record amounts of online grocery shopping last year. But as we’re a year into this pandemic, new habits around online grocery have formed. In the month of January, U.S. consumers spent $9.3 billion on grocery e-commerce, and online sales of food and beverages is projected to hit $143 billion by 2025. In other words, the market for online grocery markets is looking pretty super right now.

Crisp Launches with $14.5 Million to Curb Food Waste with AI and Big Data

Crisp, a startup which leverages AI and big data to cut down on food waste, launched today from stealth mode with $14.5 million dollars in funding (h/t VentureBeat). The funding was led by FirstMark Capital with $10 million from the cofounders themselves.

Crisp was cofounded in 2016 by Arie Traasdahl, who previously cofounded digital entertainment service Thumbplay (now iHeartMedia) and marketing tech company Tapad. The New York City-based startup gathers data from past consumer purchases, promotions, POS systems and even weather to help suppliers, distributors, and retailers forecast demand for their fresh food inventory, so they can more accurately decide how much of each item to buy. Crisp’s SaaS platform integrates directly into existing retail inventory and PoS systems such as Salesforce and Quickbooks. So far, the company has done one alpha test phase of their technology with 25 retailers and wholesalers, including Scandinavian food supplier/retailer Rema Foods.

Photo: Crisp dashboard

Crisp isn’t totally alone in trying to optimize fresh food ordering in the retail sector. Zest Fresh and Walmart both have monitoring systems that help suppliers figure out where to send produce so it can be consumed as quickly as possible. Most similar to Crisp is Afresh, a company which uses machine learning to analyze consumer data and project demand of fresh foods (produce, fish, etc.) for grocery stores. Crisp is trying to differentiate itself from its competitors with its user-friendliness; its website states that it can be up and running in only 15 minutes.

I’m always a bit skeptical when we hear companies throwing around tech buzzwords like “AI” and “big data” as catchall solutions to entrenched system-wide issues, such as food waste. But it’s still encouraging to see companies tackling food waste in a preventative way. If Crisp can find a way to optimize food ordering and cut down on retail surplus (which, admittedly, is a major task), it would sync up well with services like Karma and Wasteless, which sell soon-to-expire food for discounted prices in grocery stores. Together, these companies could help reduce the roughly 1.3 billion tons of food we waste each year — roughly one-third of all the food produced globally.

Crisp’s platform will launch in beta on October 1.