Editor's note: In our 2023 Startups to Watch feature, the Silicon Valley Business Journal and San Francisco Business Times present startups and founders doing unique things in the Bay Area. Fizz is one of 15 we profiled this year — to read more about our mission and the other startups we're featuring, click here.
The founding trio behind Vori Inc., an app to help grocery stores better track their supply chains, have a clear and direct answer to the question of what their exit strategy is.
"We plan to IPO," the founders — Brandon Hill, Robert Pinkerton and Tre Kirkman — told Bay Area Inno, firmly putting themselves in the camp of startups with eyes of making it to Wall Street. "Vori aims to be the Jackie Robinson of tech, which is to be the first Black-founded software company to go public and break barriers for the rest of marginalized communities."
Describe what your business does for someone from Mars? Our technology seamlessly connects data across the food supply chain, streamlining operations for grocers and suppliers while democratizing food supply access.
What was the “aha” moment behind your startup? Brandon's parents have been in the grocery industry for over 40 years, so it was their insights that led to the inspiration for starting Vori.
- Founded: 2019
- Founders: Brandon Hill, CEO; Robert Pinkerton, CTO; Tre Kirkman, chief product officer (He/Him)
- What it does: Help supermarkets run more profitable businesses.
- HQ: Menlo Park
- Employees: 21
- Total funding: $10 million
How different is the company you have today compared with the company you first envisioned? We first imagined ourselves as a B2B marketplace for local grocery stores to discover new products. We later got pulled into building more and more tools for grocery stores – a vertical SaaS play. And it’s growing fast!
Who are your customers? The 30,000 mom-and-pop supermarkets in America, or what we call independent grocers.
How do you plan to weather tough economic conditions and lack of available VC funding? At the end of the day, even if we're going into a recession, we're building software for grocery stores which are counter-cyclical—meaning even in an economic downturn, people don't stop eating groceries. Our customers' revenues sometimes increase more during downturns than at any other time.
How do you plan to scale? We have a waitlist of over 2,000 customers we need to address over the next 24-36 months, and we plan to scale regionally – major city to major city. One day, Vori will power every notable grocery store in the world.
What other businesses and business leaders give you inspiration? We draw inspiration from a bunch of sources, especially those that have previously broken through technological or sociological walls and ceilings. Leaders: Patrick Collison, Madam CJ Walker, Ursula Burns, Ken Chenault, Robert F. Smith Businesses: Square (Block), Stripe, Shopify, Tesla, Black Wall Street (Tulsa, Okla.)
