October 15, 2020

By Lynda Kiernan, Global AgInvesting Media

W23, the venture capital arm of Australian retailer Woolworths, is the sole investor in an A$4 million (US$2.9 million) Series A for London-based, AI-driven health and wellness platform Spoon Guru. 

Co-founded by Markus Stripf, Tim Allen, and Simon O’Regan in 2015, Spoon Guru uses machine learning, AI, and nutritional expertise to match consumers with specific dietary requirements and preferences with products based on analysis of nutritional values and ingredients against health and wellness requirements of the user.

“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,” said Markus Stripf, co-founder, Spoon Guru.

Since its successful UK launch through a partnership with Tesco, Spoon Guru went on to then partner with Woolworth’s in 2018 to support that company’s growth in Australia and New Zealand. Since then, the startup has added new partnerships in the Netherlands and the U.S. Additionally, the pandemic has proven to be a boon for the company as consumers are cooking at home and are more focused on the intersection of diet and health. 

“With governments worldwide launching campaigns to tackle obesity and related lifestyle diseases, consumers are now thinking about how food impacts their health and wellness,” said Stipf. “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.”

Stipf continued, “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.”

With this capital, Spoon Guru plans to expand its geographic footprint across the U.S. and Europe, and to drive production innovation both in-store, and online. 

“Clearly, shoppers want a more digitally-focused shopping experience in response to COVID-19. Informative online product descriptions and being able to find what you are looking for quickly and easily is increasingly important,” Stripf told Food Ingredients First. 

“The good news is that AI-based nutrition technologies can now support shoppers at scale by providing highly personalized shopping experiences, and not just online but across all channels.”

Woolworths launched W23 only last year with the goal of partnering with innovative, next-generation startups focused on consumer products and disruptive services to enhance its retail ecosystem strategy.

“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,” said Ingrid Maes, managing director, W23.

“Spoon Guru’s specialist algorithms are already meeting the health goals and dietary requirements of millions of Woolworths’ customers,” added Maes. “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.”

Tim Allen, co-founder of Spoon Guru, noted how a partnership with Woolworths will help the company achieve its strategic goals, saying, “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.”

– Lynda Kiernan is editor with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, and HighQuest Group’s Oilseed & Grain News. She is also a contributor to the GAI Gazette. She can be reached at lkiernan@globalaginvesting.com.