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The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Spinn Coffee

Spinn Coffee is Burning Through Cash, But Says It Will Reach Profitability as It Raises More Money

Spinn, the maker of a grind and brew coffee machine that uses centrifugal force to extract brewed coffee, is currently raising money via Wefunder to fund ongoing operations.

The company, which we followed closely in the past to determine when and if they’d finally ship their product, looks like it’s shipping lots of machines nowadays, albeit at a fairly significant loss per unit. And now, with the company’s disclosures via WeFunder, we have a pretty good idea of the company’s current sales volume and its overall financial picture.

Here is some of what we learned:

Sales

The company sells a decent number of coffee machines. According to their disclosure, they had revenue of $9.375 million in the calendar year 2022, which translates – at an assumed $800 per machine – about 11,718 or so coffee machines sold last year. The number is probably slightly lower since the company also makes revenue selling coffee to its customers.

The company’s sales were a significant leap over its 2021 number when it had annual revenue of $4.1 million, and it forecasts $13 to $17 million in sales in 2023.

Expenses

The bad news for Spinn is it is still losing a lot of money. According to the disclosure, Spinn had a net loss of $8.95 million in 2022, compared to a loss of $12.3 million in 2021. The company says it had a 22% gross margin in 2022, which is the total left over after the cost of the machines and related services. Where it’s going deep into the red is with the operating expenses, which led to a negative 95% net margin (derived by dividing the profit or, in this case, loss by revenue). In short, in 2022, their total cost of doing business was almost twice as much as their annual revenue. In other words, the company would have needed to make over $18 million in revenue on the same overall expenses to break even.

According to the company, as of May of this year, their burn rate is currently $657 thousand per month, which translates to about $7.9 million annually.

Financing

With that kind of burn rate, the company needs to keep lots of cash on the books, something it has managed to do for the last couple of years via a mix of venture funding and debt.

In 2021 the company raised two venture rounds: $24 million (May 2021) and $12.5 million (October 2021). Last year, the company secured $10.5 million in debt financing from Silicon Valley Bank and Triplepoint Capital. They also secured an additional $2.85 million in SAFE financing, a form of convertible note that is later converted to equity.

But while the company has managed to raise a lot of money, it looks like the till is starting to get a little low. The company had about $1.3 million cash on hand as of May 2023, or roughly two months of money to fund its current burn rate. This short runway makes the company’s recent efforts to raise via WeFunder critical, and the good news is they have raised about $3.55 million via small equity investments via the platform as of today.

The company says they are also currently raising another venture round of $15 million, of which they claim that they have $6-$7 million “soft-circled,” which means they have that much in soft commitments from potential investors but have yet to nail down final terms or issue a term sheet.

Other Interesting Data Points:

  • 11M+ servings made & 65,000 active users – I assume the 65 thousand users are total user profiles and not machines sold, but still, that’s a decent number.
  • Ninety thousand bags of coffee sold & 120+ local roasting partners – at about $20 a bag, that’s about $1.8 million (cumulative) in coffee sales.

So Will They Make It?

That’s the big question. The company has some decent sales momentum, but ongoing sales demand depends heavily on continued spending on marketing and selling machines at or below their current price points of $800 – $999 per machine.

To reach profitability, the company will need significantly higher sales volumes so its accumulated gross margin can overtake its somewhat more fixed operating expenses. Spinn’s management thinks they can do it in 17 or so months, but to get there, they’ll need to raise enough new financing to fund their ongoing burn rate in the meantime.

Another complication is they also have to pay back their lenders in 2024. Unlike equity funding, the company’s debt requires that it be paid back by the maturity dates, which are March and August of next year. If they can’t pay it back and fail to renegotiate new terms with the lenders, the banks can seize the company’s assets.

The bottom line is it looks like the company is currently in a race against the clock to ramp up sales, which means its survival will depend almost entirely on how they do this holiday season when the company does the bulk of its business.

As a Spinn owner, I hope they can make it. I paid for my Spinn way back in 2016 (it was finally delivered in 2020) because back then, I felt plastic-based pod machines were pretty horrible for the planet, and grind and brew was the future of single-serve home coffee. I still think that, and while Spinn has a lot more competition nowadays than it did back then, I still think if it can scale its manufacturing and get over the financial hump, it could be an interesting company to follow well into the future.

The Food Tech Show: An Almost All Coffee Pod: Spinn, Coffee Robots & Atomo

The Spoon team has a heavily caffeinated conversation for this week’s podcast. Here are the stories we discuss:

I also suggest new names for both Chris and Jenn (let us know what you think of Jenny Donuts).

As always, you can find The Food Tech Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. You can also download direct to your device or just click play below.

Could it Be? Long Delayed Spinn Coffee Machine To Start Shipping This Month

Every month, the folks behind the Spinn grind & brew coffee maker post highly detailed updates on the progress they are making towards getting the long-delayed machine into the hands of backers.

Last month was was no different. On October 30, the company posted a meticulous update that went into detail on everything from the product’s real-time recipe generator to its mobile app development and user guide. However, unlike previous updates, this one had a little sentence near the end providing an actual timeline for initial deliveries:

Next month, Spinn will begin with its very first roll-out of machines to its earliest backers in California. Soon thereafter, we will begin with the fulfillment of other preorders.

Talk about burying the lede.

In reality, the announcement of initial shipments to early backers shouldn’t be a huge surprise for anyone who’s been following Spinn’s updates in recent months, which explain the slow-motion process of pushing the coffee machine into manufacturing.

For example, in September Spinn detailed the first engineering builds coming off the line of its contract manufacturer and getting delivered for final testing at the company headquarters in Amsterdam.

And with October’s update, it does appear Spinn is putting a bow on final preparations around delivering a working product, including building out the instruction manual and exploring the different chemicals consumers can use to perform descaling on the machine.

Spinn Coffee instruction manual excerpt

While I am cautiously skeptical, there’s no doubt that the company shipping product is good news for anyone who, like me, has been waiting literally years to get their Spinn.

A glance at the comments in Spinn’s forum shows that other early customers are, for the most part, excited that the company is starting to ship.

The only remaining question for me is when will other early backers see their Spinn. I was in the first wave of customers and expected to see the Spinn pretty soon after first shipments but, for some reason, the company is shipping to what looks like a small subsegment of backers in California first. My guess is they are looking to test the product in the field first before ramping up to full production.

Let’s hope that goes quickly and I’ll see my Spinn before Christmas.

Spinn Raises $3 Million As It Eyes Production Of Long-Delayed Coffee Machine

Spinn, the grind and brew centrifugal coffee machine that is nearly two years past its original ship date, has raised an additional $3 million in funding that it plans to use to ramp up production of its coffee maker.

The funding announcement came as part of an update to early buyers via the company’s community forum. The update indicated that the funding comes from a “Swiss strategic investor” and that it will be used to invest in engineering and production teams and to produce the coffee machine in volume. Combined with past funding, the new round brings Spinn’s total funding to approximately $10 million.

From the post:

“…we raised another $3M from a Swiss strategic investor for the continued expansion of the engineering and manufacturing team, investment in the production lines and tools to produce Spinn machines in large quantities. The investment allows us to proceed with our operations and we are confident we’ll deliver something unique and valuable to our early backers and future customers.”

Earlier this month, I had written about the company’s long delay and how those who had purchased the machine early via the company’s website were getting restless as the company continued to market it and push their coffee marketplace. Because the company has been actively hawking its coffee via social media and email marketing, it’s totally within character then that the funding news was part of a larger announcement in which the company indicated it would also provide Spinn customers with a free annual membership to their coffee subscription service, Spinn Primo.

Reaction to the subscription offer from early Spinn customers still waiting for their coffee machine amounted to one of a collective eyeroll. As one commenter wrote, “I am not using the Spinn Marketplace yet because I do not have a coffee maker other than one that uses pods.” Another wrote, “Would love to have the free coffee if I had a coffee maker to make it in!”

For these customers and others (such as myself), the good news is that with the new cash infusion, the likelihood of Spinn shipping its coffee machine suddenly seems a lot higher than it did just a month ago. As they indicate in the update, the company still has a significant number of things on the to-do list : more engineering, acquisition of tooling for mass production, purchasing of parts inventory to name a few.

The arrival of external funding also relieves pressure to push the sale of new orders to fund investment in further engineering and production. Up until recently, the company had continued to sell products at a perpetual discount. This month, the same month the news of the funding arrived, the company went to full pricing for new products for what appears to be the first time.

The bad news? The company still hasn’t given a firm timeline for when the Spinn will ship. However, Spinn has indicated another update is forthcoming this month, so, hopefully, it will let us know when we might see the grind and brew coffee maker.

Finally, more funding is no guarantee of a finished product. We’ve seen a number of high-profile hardware startups (in food and beyond) go out of business over the past few years as they struggle to bring products to market. We’ll be keeping a close eye on Spinn to see if this new funding is enough to push the product across the finish line and get it out to backers.

Spoon Newsletter: LG’s HomeBrew Appliance, Spinn Update, World’s First Cell-Grown Steak

This is the post version of our weekly newsletter. If you’d like to get the weekly Spoon in your inbox, you can subscribe here.

When it comes to smart kitchen startups, there is no shortage of companies trying to change how we make our morning cup of joe.

One of the highest profile startups in this space over the past couple of years is Spinn, maker of a grind-brew coffee machine that utilizes a patented centrifugal brewing technology. I was intrigued enough with the company and its tech to plop down over $300 to join the first “batch” of orders in 2016, but almost two years past the promised ship date, I’m still waiting for my Spinn.

The company has hit some snags as they work to get their coffee maker to customers. While many of the Spinn’s early customers have been understandably frustrated, it appears most are hanging on, intrigued by the company’s periodic updates showing progress on the product. If they’re like me, I suspect many are getting frustrated with a company that continues to advertise and sell their overdue appliance, all the while creating more and more distance between new customers and those still waiting at the front of the line.

Still, I know I have no one to blame for investing my money in a Spinn with the knowledge that coffee startup products have been historically risky investments. With companies like ZPM and Arist turning out to be colossal misses and others like Bonaverde sputtering along for years and periodically shipping out products, I knew full well that I might never see the product. In the end, I may have been better off putting my money towards a Tesla like Spoon reader Rebecca:

“I put money down for this machine in Nov. 2016 (I’m a 1st batch-er) and at around the same time my husband put down money for a Tesla Model 3. At least I now have a smooth ride to the coffee shop!”

You can read my latest update on my Spinn journey here.

Coffee isn’t the only category that can be rough sailing for new startups. The home brew market has been notoriously tough as well, with companies like HOPii and iGulu struggling to ship and others like BrewArt and Brewie failing to get much traction.

Still, this hasn’t stopped South Korean consumer electronics giant LG from jumping into the game. The company recently announced they would debut a new home brewing device by the name of the LG HomeBrew at CES.  The capsule-based beer brewing appliance, which makes roughly the same amount of beer as a PicoBrew Pico per cycle, is expected to ship sometime next year.

What’s interesting to me is a company like LG usually only gets into a business if they see a high volume opportunity, which begs the question what will they do to differentiate their product?  While PicoBrew has certainly raised awareness around automated beer brewing, the company has yet to make home brewing a mass-market hobby, something I am sure LG hopes they can do.

Either way, next year promises to be an interesting one when it comes to tech-powered boozing at home. About a month ago, Keurig and AB InBev launched Drinkworks, a capsule-based instant serve cocktail, cider and beerbot machine expected to ship in limited quantities next year.

While home bev-tech space continues to slowly gestate, the pro market continues to move along at a rapid clip. Just this week, a robot powered bartender by the name of UR5e debuted at Broncos Stadium. The new bartenderbot is essentially robotic arm that grabs a beer cup and fills it (through the bottom, no less) for waiting customers.

Moving beyond beverage bots, this week also saw the introduction of a new sidewalk delivery bot from Postmates that goes by the name of Serve. Serve, which looks like the lovechild of Minion and Starship deliverybot, is expected to roll out in Los Angeles over the next year. And speaking of food delivery, this week Chris wrote about the breakup of Amazon and Instacart, something that’s been rumored ever since the big online retailer acquired Whole Foods.

There’s lots more great analysis to catch up from this past week, including looks at the first cell-grown steak and what the new farm bill means for CBD, so make sure to check it out.

That’s it for now. Have a great weekend and we’ll see you next week!

Mike

In the 12/14/2018 edition:

Presto Eats May Be the Most On-Trend Meal Kit Company Yet. But Will It Succeed?

By Catherine Lamb on Dec 14, 2018 11:16 am
Whenever I get word about a new meal kit company, it’s hard not to be immediately skeptical. It’s no secret that meal kits are struggling: Chef’d surprised everyone when it shut down abruptly earlier this year. Boston hyper-local meal kit Just Add Cooking ceased operations this fall. And Blue Apron’s stock continues to underwhelm.

The Denver Broncos Get a Beer Pouring Robot at Mile High Stadium

By Chris Albrecht on Dec 14, 2018 08:04 am
While the Denver Broncos may be in the midst of a losing season, they could win over fans this weekend when a new robot starts dispensing Bud Light at Mile High Stadium (h/t The Washington Post). You’d think that such a mechanical miracle would have a fancy name like the “Robo-Bronco” or the “Elway 3000,” […]

Startups! They’re Just Like Us! Amazon and Instacart Break Up

By Chris Albrecht on Dec 13, 2018 04:00 pm
Like Ben and Jennifer, Brad and Angelina, and Cardi B and Offset*, Instacart and Amazon have broken up. In a blog post today, Instacart announced that it was winding down (consciously uncoupling?) its grocery delivery relationship with Amazon. Like with so many other power couples, this breakup wasn’t entirely a surprise.

The Farm Bill Just Passed — What Does That Mean for the CBD Market?

By Catherine Lamb on Dec 13, 2018 02:08 pm
After months of back and forth, Congress voted yesterday to pass the 2018 Farm Bill. The $867 million bill contains lots of wide-reaching legislative measures, like expanded farm subsidies, SNAP revisions, and permanent funding for farmers markets. But perhaps most interestingly, the bill legalizes the production and sale of hemp at a federal level.

What Bowery’s Latest Funding Round Says About Indoor Farming

By Jennifer Marston on Dec 13, 2018 12:00 pm
New Jersey-based indoor-farming startup Bowery announced yesterday that it has raised $90 million in fresh funding. The round was led by Alphabet Inc.’s GV with participation from Temasek and Almanac Ventures, General Catalyst and GGV Capital (Bowery’s Series A investors), and various seed investors. Bowery produces what founder Irving Fain calls “post-organic produce.”

ImpactVision Raises $1.3M Led by Maersk

By Chris Albrecht on Dec 13, 2018 10:11 am
ImpactVision, a startup that uses hyperspectral imaging to assess food quality, has raised $1.3 million, according to VentureBeat. The round was led by logistics and transportation company Maersk, and brings the total amount raised by ImpactVision to $2.9 million. As we wrote last year about ImpactVision: Using a combination of digital imaging, spectroscopy and machine learning, […]

Postmates Debuts its own Bright-Eyed Delivery Robot

By Chris Albrecht on Dec 13, 2018 06:00 am
You know what you can look forward to in 2019? More robots (but more on that in a later post). Case in point: delivery service Postmates announced today that it has developed its own autonomous delivery rover that will be hitting sidewalks next year. Dubbed Serve, the li’l robot is a bright yellow square-shaped box […]

Hi Fidelity Genetics Raises $8.5M for AI-Driven Plant Breeding

By Chris Albrecht on Dec 13, 2018 04:00 am
Hi Fidelity Genetics (HFG), which combines sensors, data and artificial intelligence (AI) to improve plant breeding, today announced that it has raised an $8.5 million Series A led by Fall Line Capital and Finistere Ventures. This brings the total amount raised by HFG to $11.5 million. There are two parts to the HFG system.

Deliveroo Goes Back to the Future with Brick and Mortar Food Hall

By Catherine Lamb on Dec 12, 2018 04:00 pm
You know how they say that in fashion, everything old comes back around and eventually is new again? It seems that the same might be true for restaurants. This week London-based food delivery startup Deliveroo opened up its first brick-and-mortar location in Hong Kong (h/t CNBC). The so-called Delivery Food Hall is home to five […]

Waitr to Acquire Bite Squad for $321.3M

By Jennifer Marston on Dec 12, 2018 02:00 pm
Online delivery platform Waitr has announced plans to acquire third-party delivery service Bite Squad for $321.3 million. The purchase price is a mix of cash and shares of common stock of Waitr. Both companies serve small- to mid-sized U.S. markets. Waitr is a full platform from online order and delivery. Restaurants partnering with the company […]

Almost Two Years Late, Spinn Keeps Spinning as Backers Become More Restless

If patience is a virtue, at what point does a man of virtue become a fool for waiting too long for his overdue grind and brew connected coffee maker?

It’s a question I ask myself every week or two about the Spinn, a machine that is, as I write this, almost two years past the original ship date promised to me and other early buyers who plopped down $300 or more.

The reason I think about the tardy coffee machine so often is I get an email every week or two asking me if I’ve heard any news about the Spinn.

Below is a recent example:

Dear Mike, I was an early backer in Dec. 2016 and I have not heard from them in ages. Is this just a complete scam and is there anyway to get my money back?

Mary

So why do the Marys of the world come to me for an update? In part, because I’m the only tech writer still bothering to keeping tabs on the long-overdue project, but I think the main reason is that the company has done such a poor job giving guidance on when exactly the machine will ship.

In fact, they’ve largely given up on giving any guidance at all.

It didn’t use to be this way. Early on the company said it would ship sometime in spring of 2017. When they missed that date, they pointed to first half 2018. Eventually, they stopped giving any guidance in their periodic updates, but up to just a couple months ago, a message on the home page right below the order button said that the fifth “batch” would ship year-end 2018.

As a first “batch” customer, every time I saw that I would always think, ‘huh, when will mine be here?’

Adding to the frustration is whenever I ask the company about the status of the machine, the only response I (and others) get is to suggest we log into our account for an update on our shipping status. What does that get me? A message telling me my ship date has yet to be announced:

 

My Spinn account screen

It’s not like the company’s gone entirely dark. Spinn has a community forum where they update early customers every month or two on the status of the coffee machine. These updates go into excruciating detail on how the company is working to improve the early beta products and are filled with photos of torn down products…

…and with people working diligently in labs…

…and with highly granular descriptions of every aspect of the machine and how they are working to optimize it…

A portion of the September/October update from Spinn community update

Lots and lots of information, but nothing about when the product will ship.

The forum also has a community discussion board where customers can discuss the updates. Most of the discussions revolve around one central question – when is Spinn going to ship the machine – and, as you can imagine, many people aren’t happy at the lack of guidance.

But the most frustrating thing is the company continues to advertise about the Spinn. Below is an image that popped up in my Instagram feed recently:

A Spinn coffee machine advertisement on Instagram

And as the company continues to pitch their hardware on social media like Instagram and Facebook, they continue to blast out emails advertising their coffee marketplace.

So what do I say TO the Marys of the world who ask me if the Spinn is a scam? I’ve always said no and continue to believe this. The reason is scammers don’t get issued patents for their innovations, nor do they offer full refunds (something the company still offers for backers).

Instead, I think Spinn is a company that has hit some snags in getting the machine to market and is continuing to fund the development of the product through sales of coffee and new machines they have yet to ship.  If that is indeed what is happening, while not a scam, it’s certainly a dangerous game to play. It’s also something that has led me and others to start to run out of patience.

All that said, I’ve continued and will continue to stick it out, in part because the Spinn sounds like an intriguing coffee machine, one which I believe the company is trying its hardest to ship.

As for Mary and others who ask about getting their money back, I’m torn.  I may be a fool with my own money, but I don’t want to give bad advice to others on what they should do with their hard-earned dough.

The company points to mid-2019 as the ship date for new orders, which means manufacturing of the product will need to start very soon if they plan to deliver to those of us in the front of the line.  If they don’t give a hard ship date by the end of January, it might be time to ask for that refund.

The Spinn Coffee Maker Is Still MIA For Early Backers

(Update: You can see the December 2018 update on my Spinn journey here.)

In 2016, I backed a high-tech coffee maker called the Spinn.

At the time, I was enticed by the combined grind & brew capability of the Wi-Fi connected coffee maker, but the real reason I bought the Spinn was its patented centrifugal brewing technology. The tech, which I talked to the inventor about on a podcast back in 2016, uses a high-speed centrifuge to extract crema-like coffee brews down to the individual cup level.

It all sounded pretty good to me, so I coughed up $300 and waited for my new coffee maker. However, now with the product’s original mid-2017 and revised first quarter 2018 ship dates in the history books, I’m left wondering: will I ever get my Spinn?

I’m not the only one. A casual perusal of the company’s forums or Facebook page shows that many of early backers of the Spinn are getting restless. Throw in the multiple emails I get per week asking me if I’d heard anything (from the volume of email I get about the Spinn, I gather I may be the only journalist monitoring the progress of the product) and it seems like the company has a bit of a trust problem on its hands.

Now, it’s not like the company hasn’t been communicating. They’ve actually done a pretty good job of sending out periodic updates via its forum. The problem for the company is that once they missed their original ship date of mid-2017, they started telling all the first batch purchasers of the Spinn they’d see their coffee makers by the end of the first quarter in 2018. But by the time March rolled around, the company had moved the goal posts once again and said they were only sending machines out to “beta testers”.

Now as with any crowdfunding campaign, I knew I was taking a risk when I bought the Spinn back in 2016. But I’d backed lots of hardware projects over the past few years, and Spinn seemed to check all the boxes. Not only did they have patented technology that was differentiated, but they’d also licensed their technology to Nespresso to use in the newest line of that company’s pod-based brewing machines.

But almost two years later, I’m starting to worry I may have guessed wrong. Not only has the company missed two ship dates and is being vague about when the product will actually ship, but when I asked to talk to a “beta tester”, the company told me they cannot connect me to beta testers as they are “still going through iterations and bugs.”  Add in other potential warning signs like the departure of the Spinn technology inventor last year and one can see why I and other early backers are starting to worry.

To its credit, the company has offered myself and others a refund, but for now I’m going to continue to hang in there because I still really want a Spinn. However, like other early backers, I’ll be more skeptical about any deadlines the company gives since the company missed a long-promised ship date. At this point, I’m just hoping to see my Spinn sometime before Christmas so I can brew the coffee roasted with the Kelvin home coffee roaster, yet another high-tech coffee gadget I backed through crowdfunding.

Smart Kitchen News Roundup: Mellow Updates, Pico(Cold)Brews, Spinn Spins

There’s been a bunch of news about smart kitchen products lately, so I thought I’d do a quick roundup:

Mellow Updates Software To Address Cooling Concerns

Mellow, a sous vide appliance that utilizes an internal refrigeration unit to cool food until a user is ready to cook, has updated its software to address concerns about the product’s ability to cool food quickly enough. In a January review for Wired, food writer Joe Ray gave the Mellow a brutal 1/10 review because he said the Mellow couldn’t bring the food’s temperature below a USDA recommended 40 degrees Fahrenheit in two hours, meaning the product was a potential food poisoning risk. It appears Mellow was paying attention because the company just released a software update that prompts the user to add ice if it detects if the water in the reservoir is not cool enough. The company will release another update later in March that adds a pre-cool mode to help cooks start cooking the chamber earlier to keep their food out the “danger zone.”

PicoBrew Z Series Adds Cold Brew Coffee To Repertoire

A few weeks ago, PicoBrew announced their latest generation pro-grade brewing appliance, the PicoBrew Z. Not content with just brewing beer, the company announced that their new modular brewing system would also be able to brew cold brew coffee too.

According to the announcement, a standard Z will be able to brew up to two gallons of cold brew coffee or coffee concentrate in two hours, faster than traditional methods (although there seem to be lots of fast-brew methods for cold brew coffee coming to market lately). While I’m not sure it’s the most cost-effective way to make cold brew coffee (commercial systems that make up to 15 gallons cost around $450), it might be a good option for a brewpub looking add another item to the menu.

Spinn Spins Another Update

Like others who’ve backed the Spinn centrifugal coffee machine, I’ve gotten a bit restless as the company has fallen further behind its original ship date. But with the company’s management doing a good job updating backers, I’ve decided to stick it out and wait for my Spinn.

And according to the latest update, it looks like my patience may pay off. For the last few updates, the company has pointed a March ship date for first products, and the latest update indicates they’re sticking to it (but barely).

From the update:

“After Chinese New Year we’ll be assembling the machines and shipping the first units by the end of March. From there on, we’ll be ramping up production throughout the following months. This is a critical step towards bringing our machine into mass production and our teams in the U.S., Europe and China will be working around the clock to guarantee a great coffee machine that we’ll start to ship at a smaller scale at first, increasing the numbers with every batch.

Like I said, barely. For a product that could be described the Tesla of coffeemakers, it’s not all that surprising the company is taking a Tesla-like approach in its slow ramp it getting the product out the door.

Could Suvie Hit a Cool Million?

Suvie, the multizone cooker from the founder of Reviewed.com is trucking along with its Kickstarter. With just over a day and a half to go, the product has raised over $700 thousand.

With most successful Kickstarters going through the same three basic phases –  1) initial burst providing validation 2) a long stretch of yeoman’s work to keep story and interest alive, and 3) a final burst of folks who want in on project – they often look like this:

If Suvie’s campaign holds true to how most successful campaigns go, I would expect a last minute surge in backers and wouldn’t be surprised to see Suvie to see a get close to a million dollars.

Anova Nano On Track For May Ship

Last fall, Anova let customers know that the company’s new smaller (and cheaper) sous vide appliance – the Nano – would not be under tree come Christmas time and would instead ship in May. In an update from mid-February, Anova CEO Steve Svajian has indicated that they are holding to the May shipping window.

No official word from the company on when their Anova precision oven will ship other than a landing page on the Anova website that says “Summer 2018”. The product was unveiled at the Smart Kitchen Summit in October 2016.

My Spinn Check-In: Grind-Brew Coffee Machine Still On Track For Early 2018

May 2018 Update: You can read my latest post on my personal Spinn saga here.

My wife has given me one rule when it comes to my penchant for buying new kitchen gadgets: If a new one comes in, one must go out.

It didn’t take me long to make the calculation and commit when I bought the Spinn Coffee machine a year ago. After all, not only does the machine use a special patented centrifugal brewing system to make crema-like coffee, but it also combines a grinder with a coffee brewer.

“See,” I would tell her. “This two-in-oner lets me eliminate a coffee grinder!”

A year later, one delay and no coffee maker, I’m left wondering if the money was well spent.

I emailed Spinn CEO Roderick de Rode to see how things are going. I’d become a bit concerned after my initial email to company cofounder and one of the inventors of the Spinn’s centrifuge brewing technology, Roland Verbeek (who I interviewed for the Smart Kitchen Show), bounced back.

De Rode responded and, after telling me that Roland had left the company to start a yoga retreat, he assured me that the Spinn is still on track for an early 2018 shipment.

He even offered to refund my money, and I said no, in part because I still want the thing, but also because I believe his assurances. This is in large part because the company has done a good job updating the Spinn community with very detailed breakdowns of the improvements they’ve been making to the Spinn.

In the last one, sent in October, detailed progress made on the grinder, bean reservoir and how they’ve been able to shrink the overall size of the machine from a towering 17.5 inches to 13 inches.

And just this week, the released a video showing the highlights from the development process:

The Making of Spinn

But most convincing for me is the progress the company has made on building out a roaster network. Like many connected kitchen startups, the company is hoping to build a recurring revenue stream through consumables, and Spinn’s spin on that idea is through auto-replenishment of specialty coffee through a network of independent roasters. de Rode told me that as of this point, the company has signed up an impressive 140 roasters.

You can see where many of the roasters are on this map (also pictured below):

Product delays are almost expected nowadays, and anyone who’s bought hardware from a startup takes a risk. Some of the things I use when calculating risk before laying down my own hard earned money on a startup’s product is the founder team, how unique their idea is (patents help), whether they regularly update the community on progress, and if the company spends time building out a sustainable business model.

For the most part, Spinn looks to check all those boxes, and I’m pretty confident I’ll get my new coffee grinder/brewer in early 2018.

And if I don’t, who knows. Maybe I can still get a refund and use it to take the wife to a yoga retreat.

Spinn Centrifugal Grind-Brew Coffee Machine Delayed Until Early 2018

Well that’s a bummer.

The Spinn grind-brew coffee machine which utilizes a patented centrifugal brewing process has been delayed “5-6 months” according to a letter from Spinn CEO, Roderick de Rode, sent this weekend.

According to de Rode, the company delayed the shipment of the Spinn to work on three things: Reducing grinder noise, reducing the size of the machine and speeding up serve time.

From de Rode’s letter:

Currently, we’re encountering two areas (ed note: I think he meant three) that are not yet up to our standards:

(1) The sound created by the grinder – we don’t want you to experience the same heavy sound disturbances typical of a common coffee brewer. That’s why it’s important to us to continue to refine the hardware so that the machine isn’t noisy for you.
(2) The height of the machine – originally, we listed the machine to be 17-18 inches tall, but believe we can achieve better dimensions. We want the Spinn machine to fit underneath any kitchen cupboard, so we decided to spend extra time and resources to decrease its height without compromising the build in other ways.
(3) The serving time – reduce the serving time for the optimal user experience. Tests showed longer serving times than expected so we dedicated resources to improving speed without compromising the quality of the coffee

de Rode goes on to say that rather than ship a product that is not fully optimized, they’d rather delay shipment 5 or 6 months to “continue development.”

While all the improvements described by de Rode seem reasonable, it’s always worrisome for backers (like myself!) when a startup delays shipment. Particularly worrisome about this news is it’s clear from de Rode’s letter that the company got all the way to the expected shipment date without having pushed the product into the tooling phase. From the looks of things, they are still working on overall design and plan on continuing doing so over the coming months.

Bottom line: Unless the company has built in time for tooling and ramping up production into the 5-6 month “design” window, an early 2018 ship date could be tough to hit.

Perhaps one ray of light in this story is Spinn is a little further along than traditional hardware startups in that they already have a licensing deal for their centrifugal brewing process. They’ve licensed their technology to Nestle for Nespresso for the Vertuoline of coffee makers.

You can read the full text of the letter to backers below:

This is Roderick, co-founder, and CEO of Spinn, Inc. Thank you for taking this journey with us from the very start. It’s been a crazy yet amazing ride so far.

I’ve listened to the questions our customers have asked through social media, email and our support channels. One of the most common questions was regarding the timeline for developing the Spinn machine, and I want to answer this directly.

My team and I have spent the past few months tasting tons of coffee and perfecting the Spinn machine to be everything we promised to you. Starting with sourcing the highest quality hardware components, to developing an easy-to-use and intuitive software experience. As we continue to test the prototype, we’ve become more and more excited by the results and especially Spinn’s unique aromatic taste. We hope it will be to your liking, and invite you to take a peek at one of our first demo videos:

Along the way, we’ve also encountered technical challenges that come with building brand-new technologies. Right now, we’re so close to being ready, but there are extra tests, developments, and features we want to consider in order to deliver a flawless machine to you. So, I want to share the specifics about where we’re at in the process.

For the last 7 months, our engineering team mates based across three continents have put the Spinn machine through rigorous tests. Brewing over a thousand cups of coffee, they’ve been working to perfect the following:

Hardware – identifying and eliminating every problem we find.

  • Brewer – increasing the brewer performance during spinning at multiple speeds. Spinning ground coffee mixed with hot water at speeds up to 7000 RPM requires very precise engineering. Reducing vibration and the loss in water temperature are the main focus points.
  • Design – Our talented team of industrial designers has built numerous prototypes over the past few years to bring together a highly advanced brewing technology with precision electronics in a robust and compact design. We understand that preserving space on our customers’ kitchen counter top is of paramount importance, so Spinn is developing the first Bean2Cup coffee maker with the world’s smallest footprint.
    Materials – sourcing, testing and selecting the best and highest quality materials for our machines.
  • Seals – making, testing and improving the brewer’s seal performance between 2000 RPM and 7000 RPM at different coffee volumes and water temperatures, to ensure a leak-proof brew chamber.
  • Bean Funnel – finding and testing the optimum amount of coffee and optimal coffee flow to pass through the bean funnel while filling the brew chamber and creating Spinn’s unique 360-degree coffee bed.
  • Heater – sourcing, testing and selecting the heating element with the best performance to achieve the optimum and adjustable water temperature needed for the different coffee extractions per coffee style for 110V and 220V power outlets.
    Temperature Management – precision engineering combined with material and heat loss analysis for the best in-cup temperature.
  • Conical Burr Grinder – testing a variety of bespoke grinders and develop one that can generate a constant & steady grind flow, adjusted via the control panel in the Spinn App to the required ground size per coffee style. The hardened steel grinder is adjustable through the app. The grind result of the average particle size is between 240 and 1150 micron.
  • Grinder motor – grinders can be noisy so we set out to develop a high-performance grinder that creates less noise than any other grinder on the market. By using a high-quality DC motor with accurate gears and insulation we believe to have achieved our goal. Current endurance testing will provide more data about the robustness of the entire component.
  • Display – test and optimize the sensitivity of the display buttons.
    Filter Material – we developed a unique 360-degree filter mesh with holes as small as 30 Microns (µ) to reduce the amount of coffee grounds ending up in your cup. This unique mesh combined with back pressure generated by 3 nozzles is key for Spinn’s unique aromatic coffee taste.
  • Tea – Americano – a separate hot water spout for tea and Americano was created and tested. The test results turned out positive and the spout will be implemented in the machine.
  • Crema – some of our customers prefer crema in their coffee and some don’t. Spinn set out the challenge to create a machine that can brew both. It took us many months and pounds of coffee but we are happy to announce that we have achieved the way to brew coffee by centrifugal pressure with and without crema.

Software – optimizing user experience, bug fixing, and functionality development

  • Wi-Fi – develop wifi communications on the user side and control the machine’s parameters. We teamed up with our cloud provider Ayla Networks for connectivity to get a great user interface and experience.
  • Spinn Marketplace – we have developed the world’s first connected marketplace for independent coffee roasters to fulfill the orders when machines are running low. Around 150 roasters signed up on the Spinn platform and the first orders are live. When we ship, you will have the option to connect your new Spinn machine to the market, so that your favorite pick of roasters can deliver beans to your door when you’re running low. Developing the world’s first automated platform for deliveries of coffee roasters has been quite an undertaking, but we are proud to deliver a website and system that we trust you will like.
  • Spinn App – will be launching soon for Android and iOS, and we’re running a beta user test as we speak.
  • Roaster platform – developing an intuitive roaster platform for an easy sign up process and implementing recipes.

After many field and lab tests, we’ve resolved these technical challenges that came our way, all taking time and focus to complete. Currently, we’re encountering two areas that are not yet up to our standards:

(1) The sound created by the grinder – we don’t want you to experience the same heavy sound disturbances typical of a common coffee brewer. That’s why it’s important to us to continue to refine the hardware so that the machine isn’t noisy for you.
(2) The height of the machine – originally, we listed the machine to be 17-18 inches tall, but believe we can achieve better dimensions. We want the Spinn machine to fit underneath any kitchen cupboard, so we decided to spend extra time and resources to decrease its height without compromising the build in other ways.
(3) The serving time – reduce the serving time for the optimal user experience. Tests showed longer serving times than expected so we dedicated resources to improving speed without compromising the quality of the coffee

So what’s next?
Between delivering to you in mid-2017, and making sure that the above three improvements were carried through, we made the hard choice to focus on perfecting the product. That means that we’ll be needing an extra 5-6 months to continue development. While we’re getting close to delivering the Spinn machine, we’re not ready to ship this to you yet.

We want you to be confident and happy as you wait another 5-6 months for us to make this happen, and get it right the first time. You’ve already shown our team a lot of patience, but I would love for your continued support.

If you have any questions about anything I’ve shared, or think there’s something we can do in the meantime to help you be more confident waiting for us, let us know.

Thank you again for being part of our journey. Without people like you – who not only believe in ‘better’, but support and instigate ‘better’ – none of this would ever have been possible.

–Roderick, CEO of Spinn Inc.

If you want to want to hear about the future of coffee and the kitchen, make sure to come to the Smart Kitchen Summit. Use the discount code SPOON to get 25% off of tickets. 

Want To Give Centrifugal Coffee Brewing A Spin? Now You Can

Centrifuges aren’t just for uranium enrichment anymore.

Of course, chefs have been using centrifuges, machines that rapidly spin its contents to separate fluids, for some time, and culinary mad scientist Dave Arnold is busy creating a low-priced centrifuge for food hobbyists.

But now, coffee and centrifuges are the latest kitchen combo to go together like, well, coffee and cream. First there was Nespresso Vertuoline coffee and espresso maker line, which uses centrifusion within the brewing capsule to create creamy espressos and lattes.

And now there’s the Spinn, which uses a centrifuge to make coffee without the coffee pod.* This week is the first time you can preorder a Spinn, the culmination of years of work by Roland Verbeek, Spinn’s inventor, and the rest of the Spinn team. When we interviewed Verbeek early this year, he told us the story of how the company wanted to create not only a product that brewed coffee in a very different way, but also one that enabled consumers to buy coffee from small independent coffee growers.

The device, which starts at $499 when it ships in mid-2017, is available for preorder at a 40% discount for a limited time. While the core innovation is the centrifugal brewing, it can do lots more, including app-control, in-machine grinding, subscriptions & replenishment, and mobile app control/alerts. The preorder allotment is currently limited to two thousand machines.

To hear the full story of Spinn, check out the podcast here.

Spinn - The key to the Best Cup of Coffee

*The two efforts are related, as Nespresso licenses the centrifusion extraction technology from Spinn, an exclusive license for capsule-based brewing.