AI-powered food search and discovery technology start-up Spoon Guru has secured a series A funding round with W23, netting AU$4 million from 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,” Markus Stripf, co-founder of Spoon Guru tells FoodIngredientsFirst.

“The funding will ensure we can further develop our product suite and expertise in driving towards our goal of helping people meet their health and dietary goals. We are fuelling product innovation and scaling operations across the world,” he adds.

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

COVID-19 inspires healthier shopping
Stripf also notes 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. 

“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,” he explains.

Also, consumers have shown a significant appetite to switch to healthy and sustainable diets as they grapple with the impact of COVID-19, he adds. They want more opportunities to meet varied family needs and individual health goals with flexibility. 

“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,” Stripf details.

“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 toward this goal,” he affirms.

Spoon Guru’s specialist algorithms are already meeting the health goals and dietary requirements of millions of Woolworths’ customers, according to Ingrid Maes, managing director of W23. 

“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,” Maes adds. 

Retail game-changer?
Co-founded in 2015 by Stripf, Tim Allen and Simon O’Regan, Spoon Guru launched in the UK with a “game-changing” Tesco partnership supporting shoppers with individual dietary preferences. 

ince then, it has been growing its international presence year on year. In 2018, Spoon Guru partnered with Woolworths Group 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. 

In addition to aiding expansion, Spoon Guru will also use the funds to fuel product innovation instore and online. 

Recent product launches include the Immunity Support TAG in response to the pandemic, as well as a health and wellness suite of products that together help shoppers to make better choices and improve outcomes.  

Investing in a new retail ecosystem
W23 was established by the Australian retailer 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, W23 has partnered with a range of businesses from meal-kit deliveries through to crowdsourced fulfillment and digital health.

“W23 is recognized 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,” says Allen.

Last year, Spoon Guru revealed research which found that less than 30 percent of UK and US shoppers believe that grocery retailers are doing enough to help promote healthy eating.