Spoon Guru Secures Series A Funding with W23
Article originally published by Business Leader
Spoon Guru, the London-based AI-powered food search and discovery technology start-up, announces today that it has secured a Series A funding round with W23, the Venture Capital arm of Australia’s largest retailer, Woolworths Group.
The multi-million dollar investment will be used to expand Spoon Guru’s footprint with retailers across APAC, North America and Europe, at a time when governments are putting a greater focus on the importance of food and health to boost national health.
Co-founded in 2015 by Markus Stripf, Tim Allen and Simon O’Regan, Spoon Guru successfully launched into the UK with a game-changing Tesco partnership supporting shoppers with individual dietary preferences, and has been growing its international presence year on year.
In 2018, Spoon Guru partnered with Woolworths Group’s to support its health ambitions in Australia and New Zealand and since then has secured further heavyweight retail partnerships in the Netherlands and the US. Spoon Guru plans to use the investment to continue expansion across the US, Europe and further afield.
Spoon Guru will also use the funds to fuel product innovation instore and online. Through the combination of AI and machine learning with nutritional expertise, Spoon Guru enables food retailers to deliver highly personalised experiences tailored to each customer, based on their distinct and unique dietary, health, and wellness needs. Recent product launches include the Immunity Support TAG in response to the pandemic and beyond as well as a ground-breaking health and wellness suite of products which together help shoppers to make better choices and improve outcomes.
Markus Stripf, Co-founder of Spoon Guru, comments: “With governments worldwide launching campaigns to tackle obesity and related lifestyle diseases, consumers are now thinking about how food impacts their health and wellness. There is a desire from shoppers for healthier choices and with a significant swing to online shopping, grocery retailers have the opportunity to use technologies like Spoon Guru to drive and scale healthier baskets. It is our mission to provide retailers with the tools they need to ensure healthier food discovery, thereby improving basket sizes and values and in turn driving customer loyalty and growth for our partners. The funding will ensure we can further develop our product suite and expertise in driving towards this goal.”
W23, was established by the Woolworths Group in 2019 to partner with innovative start ups as part of the Group’s retail ecosystem strategy. With a particular focus on next-generation consumer products and disruptive services, to date W23 has partnered with a range of businesses from meal-kit deliveries, through to crowd sourced fulfilment, digital health, cutting-edge consumer goods and AI powered SEO and SEM.
Ingrid Maes, Managing Director of W23, said; “Our investment in Spoon Guru fits perfectly into our portfolio of strategic partnerships with game-changing startups that are helping to shape the future of online retail.
“Spoon Guru’s specialist algorithms are already meeting the health goals and dietary requirements of millions of Woolworths’ customers. Our partnership model will give the team at Spoon Guru the freedom to continue doing what they do best, while also helping Woolworths differentiate its offer and accelerate the Group’s ability to meet the changing health needs of customers. We look forward to being part of Spoon Guru’s next growth phase.”
Co-Founder of Spoon Guru, Tim Allen adds; “W23 is recognised as the go-to Venture Capital fund for disruptors within the food and health-tech space. Having the retail and grocery expertise of Woolworths Group will be a significant asset to our efforts as we scale rapidly across APAC, North America and Europe.”
The Spoon Guru Board is headed by Chairman and Ex Asda CEO, Andy Clarke.