The Checkout: Climax Foods Raises $7.5M Seed Round, Giant Eagle Debuts Cashierless Tech
Welcome to The Checkout: an express lane for the weekly news you need to know, always 10 items or less.
Climax Foods Raises $7.5 Million Seed Round
Food science company Climax Foods announced this week the close of a $7.5 million seed round. The round included funding from S2G Ventures, an investor in plant-based brands Beyond Meat, Lava and Ripple. At One Ventures and ARTIS Ventures also participated in the round, along with Manta Ray Ventures, Valor Siren Ventures, Prelude Ventures, Index Ventures, Luminous Ventures, Canaccord Genuity Group, Carrot Capital, Global Founders Capital and several “mission-aligned” angel investors. The funding will help grow Climax’s research for “minimally-processed” plant-based products.
Climax Food’s founders include Oliver Zahn (CEO) and Pavel Aronov (VP), both former scientists at Impossible Foods, as well as COO Caroline Love, who previously served as plant-based brand JUST’s VP and director of corporate partnerships. Climax will apply the new funds toward extensive research of hundreds of thousands of plant resources to create affordable plant-based products with a similar taste, flavor, texture, and nutrition as animal-based foods, starting with plant-based cheese, according to a release.
Founded in 2019, the Berkeley, Calif.-based company said it begins by studying what makes animal products taste good to consumers and then uses machine learning to test various plant combinations to mimic those sensations. According to Zahn, the meat industry is “complex and wasteful,” utilizing over a third of the planet’s water and land, while Climax hopes to make products that are “smarter and safer for consumers than their animal-based predecessors.” Unlike some other plant-based alternatives, Climax also believes it can create plant-based products at an affordable price point for all shoppers.
Sanjeev Krishnan, chief investment officer of S2G Ventures, noted that Climax’s “entirely novel technological approach” can create a new category that will “out-compete” traditional proteins.
Giant Eagle Pilots Grabango Checkout-Free Tech
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many shoppers venturing into grocery stores want to get in and out of the store even faster. Pittsburgh, Pa.-based grocery chain Giant Eagle this week piloted Grabango’s checkout-free technology at its GetGo Café+Market in Fox Chapel. It marks the first rollout of Grabango’s contactless technology into an existing commercial store, according to a release.
Through overhead sensors and machine learning, Grabango adds an item to a “virtual basket” when a customer adds it to their physical basket. It also recognizes and accounts for items customers return to shelves, even if they are returned to a different location. Shoppers are billed via Grabango’s app before leaving the store or can pay for their digital cart at the cashier.
Since its 2016 launch, Grabango’s technology has been used by two convenience store chains. The Giant Eagle partnership was announced last year, and was tested by store employees before rolling out to shoppers this week. The retailer will add the option to more of its 270 GetGo Café+Market convenience stores and 200 supermarkets “in the near future,” said Laura Karet, president and CEO of Giant Eagle.
Grabango has raised $32 million since it was founded by Pandora Media co-founder and former CTO Will Glaser. In a blog post, Glaser explained that the tech differs from Amazon Go, which launched in 2018, because it can be retrofitted for use in existing stores and allows the option of traditional payments for shoppers without smartphones.
Walmart+ to Launch Sept. 15
Walmart is also hoping to make shopping smoother via Walmart+, a new membership plan that offers checkout-free shopping as well as unlimited free home delivery.
Formerly called Delivery Unlimited, the updated program launches Sept. 15 and includes added perks such as fuel discounts and in-store access to a Scan & Go tool on the Walmart app for contactless purchases. Delivery Unlimited subscribers will automatically roll over and become Walmart+ members, according to a release: membership costs $98 per year, or $12.95 per month, and includes a 15-day free trial.
According to the company, 2,700 of its 4,700 stores can currently provide same-day delivery. The retailer already offers free curbside pickup, NextDay delivery and two-day delivery as well and plans to add more services to Walmart+ in the future.
Target Grows Good and Gather with 600 ‘Premium’ Products
A year after the launch of its private label food and beverage brand Good and Gather, this Fall Target is adding 600 new ‘premium’ items to the line, for a total of nearly 2,000 products.
Good and Gather, which already includes plant-based meats, yogurt and alternative milk, will expand with new ‘Signature’ offerings featuring “elevated flavors and specialty ingredients,” according to a release. The line, which is free from artificial flavors and sweeteners, synthetic colors and high fructose corn syrup, generated over $1 billion in sales during the fourth quarter and has become Target’s top owned food brand, the retailer reported.
“Food plays such an important role in our guests’ lives,” said Stephanie Lundquist, Target’s EVP and president of food and beverage. “And now, as guests are eating and cooking at home—and appreciating good value—more than ever, Good & Gather continues to set Target apart.”
The company also recently added grocery items to its same-day order pickup, drive up, and Shipt same-day delivery offerings in over 1500 stores.
Ripple Co-founder Launches Sugarbreak
A group of veteran CPG executives, including Ripple co-founder and co-CEO Adam Lowry, this week launched Sugarbreak, a brand focused on blood sugar management and sugar reduction. The company claims to be the first all-natural solution to reducing and regulating sugar intake.
In addition to Lowry, the brand was co-founded by Luke Raymond, founder of digital marketing agency VMG Creative, and VMG Creative partner Kyle Heller, who serves as Sugarbreak’s head of branding. Scarlett Leung, co-founder of accessories brand Boita Bag, will serve as Sugarbreak’s CEO.
Sugarbreak’s first launches include two supplements — ‘Stabilize,’ which blocks absorption of sugar and carbs, and ‘Reduce,’ which promotes healthy blood sugar levels — as well as ‘Resist’ dissolvable strips, which block the taste of sugar in order to curb cravings. The items are sold on the brand’s site and retail for $11.99-$38.99. Sugarbreak plans to launch more innovation in early 2021.
The platform is supported by 20 clinical studies and a panel of medical professionals including Dr. Tom Hildebrandt, Chief of the Division of Eating & Weight Disorders at Mount Sinai and Dr. Priscilla Pemu, MD, who works with diabetic patients in marginalized communities via the Morehouse School of Medicine.
