Whereas the general meals tech market has seen a contraction in funding in 2022 as enterprise buyers change into extra cautious, one space of corporations that appears to proceed to boost curiosity is people who leverage ML and different types of AI to energy CPG decision-making, product improvement, and core ingredient improvement.
Over the previous couple of months, we’ve seen a bevy of startups increase funding, announce new merchandise and tout their platforms for AI-powered CPG. Listed below are only a few examples:
NotCo
This week, NotCo, a Jeff Bezos backed startup with roots in Chile, announced a $70M Collection D on a $1.5 Billion valuation. The funding will probably be used to launch the startup’s B2B enterprise the place it is going to open entry to its AI platform to different CPG manufacturers to speed up plant-based CPG product improvement. The B2B platform launch comes after the corporate introduced a brand new three way partnership with Kraft Heinz earlier this 12 months below which they’ve already launched plant-based variations of Kraft’s cheese slices.
StarDay Meals
StarDay, a startup which payments itself as a ‘next-generation meals conglomerate’, just launched its third CPG product, a gut-friendly seasoned rice product. The corporate’s ‘Starday Insights Machine’ makes use of pure language processing, machine studying fashions, testing capabilities, and analytical perception instruments to “determine and predict traits, derisk our investments, and pace up the product improvement course of”. The corporate has raised $4 million in seed funding.
Verusen
Verusen’s strategy to leveraging AI is to make use of it to assist different CPGs create extra resilient provide chains. The corporate claims it has created $30 million in “working capital optimization” for a worldwide CPG model (which it doesn’t title). Verusen says its platform “leverages synthetic intelligence (AI), deep studying, information harmonization, and choice help to assist world manufacturers management threat, attain provide chain resiliency, and enhance economies for his or her operations.”
Fractal AI
Fractal has created a CPG and retail-focused AI platform known as Asper AI, which the corporate claims “unifies demand planning, gross sales and distribution, stock planning, and pricing and promotion.” Fractal says its ‘autonomous decisioning platform’ may help CPG and retail corporations obtain “10%+ potential progress alternatives in monetary efficiency and greater than 50% within the automation of decision-making.”
SymphonyAI
SymphonyAI has what it calls a “end-to-end, built-in AI-powered merchandising, advertising, and provide chain options for retailers and CPG producers” which it not too long ago used to assist German retail big Metro GMBH to optimize its SKU combine and discover retail shelf area efficiencies for its Romanian storefronts.
Shiru
Shiru is building a B2B enterprise for CPG manufacturers who wish to create plant-based meat and dairy options. The corporate’s Flourish platform makes use of machine studying to mine a proprietary database with the objective of creating plant-based practical substances.
The curiosity in using new approaches for CPG product improvement, provide chain optimization and ingredient discovery comes at a time of upheaval for the broader business. Provide chain worries, persistent inflation, world geopolitical instability, and quickly altering shopper tastes have all made modeling the longer term a way more troublesome activity, including stress on CPG manufacturers and their retailers to shorten product improvement and planning cycles.
Whereas it’s price asking what number of of those startups are using true “synthetic intelligence” or just capitalizing on the will amongst manufacturers to re-configure their improvement course of, there’s little doubt that leveraging the rapidly maturing and powerful AI expertise that has reached the commercialization stage will probably be a pattern that solely intensifies in 2023.
