Albertsons, one of the largest food and drug retailers in the U.S., andGreycroft, a leading bi-coastal venture capital firm, have partnered to launch a $50 million fund to invest in innovative technologies that impact the grocery sector.
With stores located across 35 U.S. states and the District of Columbia under 20-popular brand names including Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s, Acme, Tom Thumb, Randalls, United Supermarkets, Pavilions, Star Market, Haggen, and Carrs, along with New York-based meal kit company Plated, Albertsons serves 34 million customers per week.
On such a scale, Albertsons is in a position of rivalry to the likes of Walmart, Amazon (and therefore, Whole Foods), and Kroger – each of which is battling to integrate technologies in areas of their business including supply chain management or logistics for instance, that will set them ahead and gain market share away from the competition.
Walmart has been at the forefront of integrating blockchain technology into its supply chain, and last year launched Store No. 8, a tech incubator in Silicon Valley focused on retail innovations.
Amazon, which spent $14 billion in a surprising move to acquire Whole Foods, has long looked toward technology to insulate it from competition from the broader field; opening Amazon Go, a cashier-free food store in Seattle last year.
Meanwhile, earlier this year, Kroger partnered with Silicon Valley-based tech startup Nuro for an on-demand food delivery pilot program that uses autonomous vehicles, and launched Kroger Edge – a shelf-tech platform that digitally displays pricing, nutritional information, and coupons on supermarket shelves. The technology, which will be in almost 200 stores by the end of this year, will also eventually “speak” to customers’ smartphones, featuring items that each customer is planning to buy.
This investment fund with Greycroft, will give Albertsons the ability to screen cutting-edge technologies in the grocery sector before they are commercialized. The company has the scale and the capital to drive growth, but now Albertsons will have an inside track to innovation that can give it a lead in a sector that is expected to see online sales of food and beverages in the U.S. exceed $20 billion this year, according to Coresight Research.
“Albertsons Companies is committed to meeting customers wherever and however they like to shop, and part of that is being at the forefront of the tremendous innovation our industry has seen over the last five years,” said Shane Sampson, chief marketing & merchandising officer.
For Greycroft, the tie in with Albertsons gives the firm access to tens of millions of customers per week, shopping across a range of categories.
As our eCommerce companies scale, they often incorporate a brick-and-mortar strategy to reach the entire U.S. market,” said Ian Sigalow, co-founder and partner of Greycroft. “This partnership with Albertsons Companies will enable our companies to tap into their 34 million weekly customers, across a wide range of industries including consumer products, healthcare, wellness, pharmaceuticals, and grocery. We believe that consumers should be able to get access to these high quality products and services whenever they want, wherever they want, and that requires a coast to coast footprint.”
-Lynda Kiernan