November 6, 2018

Kraft Heinz has acquired AI food tech startup wellio as the initial participant in a new digital innovation hub – the Evolv Group, which will operate under the umbrella of the company’s $100 million venture capital fund, Evolv Ventures.

Incubated by the food and agtech-focused venture foundry and investment holding company, The Production Board, wellio is an AI food tech company that provides the services of a personal nutritionist, chef, and shopper through a single platform.

Recognizing that a subscription model does not always suit every consumer’s needs, users can tell wellio the ingredients they have on-hand, and the company can deliver the rest of an meal’s ingredients within two hours. Using AI, the company can make automated decisions for its users based on desires for certain brands, fresh ingredients, nutritional profiles that align with different health and dietary needs, and minimally processed foods. Over time, wellio’s technology learns each customer’s preferences to provide a more custom experience.

The San Francisco-based startup will jumpstart the Evolv group, which has been launched to create digitally powered business models, and to launch entrepreneurial ideas that will drive growth for Kraft Heinz. The foundation of the group will be built upon two tech teams located in San Francisco and Chicago that will consist of software engineers, data scientists, designers, product managers, and an e-commerce team.

The $100 million Evolv Ventures, under which the technical hub will operate, was launched in the first days of October, with the goal of investing in emerging technologies being developed to disrupt the food industry.

Turning to venture capital and innovative food technologies has become almost de-rigueur for the world’s largest food and beverage companies looking to get out from under their own bulk.

“At Evolv Ventures, we will move beyond brands to have a committed first look at our industry’s most promising and disruptive tech-enabled companies,” said Bill Pescatello, head of the new fund. “With the insights, data and access available at Kraft Heinz, we look to take full advantage of our unique position and be the foremost value-added investor in the space.”

This new VC fund – which will be based in Chicago – will invest in technologies centered on the verticals of food production, operations technologies, consumer data and marketing, and emerging business and supply models such as e-commerce and direct-to-consumer platforms.

As the first member of the Evolv Group, wellio will serve to strengthen and advance Kraft Heinz’ ambitions to expand and diversify its position in the growing food tech arena.

“In wellio, we found extraordinary talent that could fuel our digital ambitions and an AI platform that can help us create food related solutions for our consumers and help us partner with our customers in unique ways,” said Nina Barton, president of Global Digital Online Growth. “We wanted to take a holistic look at digital disruption and growth. This is part of a larger growth approach for Kraft Heinz and is in addition to our recently announced $100 million venture fund, Evolv Ventures.”

-Lynda Kiernan