Seattle e-commerce software company Replenium is suing grocery giant Albertsons Cos. Inc. (NYSE: ACI).
The lawsuit, filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, alleges misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of contract and unjust enrichment, among other charges. According to the complaint, Replenium entered a contract with Albertsons in 2020, only for Albertsons to delay the rollout of Replenium's technology for years and, after three years of stringing Replenium along, ending the contract and launching a competing platform.
"Replenium, after investing over ten million dollars over three years of implementation and operation of its Replenium platform with Albertsons, lost nearly the entirety of that investment on the eve of the planned, full-scale expansion," the complaint reads. "Replenium seeks to hold Albertsons accountable for acting in bad faith, breaching its agreements, making false promises, and misappropriating its trade secrets and confidential information, without paying Replenium a license for its ongoing use and profits from the technology."
Albertsons declined to comment on the lawsuit. A Replenium spokesperson said the company wasn't talking beyond the complaint.
Replenium, founded in 2015, makes software for grocery stores to automatically suggest re-orders for consumers based on their order history. The goal is to make an easy shopping experience for consumers and drive brand loyalty for retail stores. The company's founder, Tom Furphy, was previously Amazon's vice president of consumables and Amazon Fresh.
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The lawsuit claims Albertsons entered into a contract with Replenium in October 2020 to launch the startup's technology, and the companies entered a nondisclosure agreement. Replenium said in the complaint the goal was to launch in December of 2020, and eventually the aim was to go nationwide in Albertsons, which has more than 2,200 stores in 34 states and Washington, D.C.
According to the lawsuit, Albertsons launched Replenium's tech in a limited fashion in Northern California in August 2022, and Albertsons continued asking for trade secrets to enhance the launch, despite delays on the rollout. In October 2023, the complaint said, Albertsons terminated the contract and "almost immediately launched its own, nearly identical, full-basket auto-replenishment solution that it had built with unfettered access to and use of Replenium’s trade secret and confidential information."
Replenium is seeking damages and asking for a jury trial.
Beyond its namesake grocery stores, Albertsons' subsidiaries include Safeway, Vons and Kings Food Markets. Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons is being acquired by larger rival Kroger for $24.6 billion, but the deal has faced opposition from the Federal Trade Commission, which sued to block the deal in February.
Kroger, meanwhile, on Monday sued the FTC in an attempt to block the agency's review of the deal. The companies first announced the deal in October 2022 and have said they would divest 579 stores if the deal goes through, including 124 in Washington.
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