It might be impossible to predict the future, but that's not going to stop Spoonshot from trying.
An alum of the Techstars Farm to Fork accelerator, Spoonshot is creating a platform that utilizes artificial intelligence and food science to deliver personalized insights, predict trends and identify new opportunities for the consumer packaged goods industry.
"There's a lot of pressure in the industry to innovate successfully," CEO Kishan Vasani told Minne Inno. "Historically, these companies rely a lot on sales data, but that will only get you so far. It's all about leveraging open data on top of what you're already doing to create a wider view of the world."
Spoonshot's platform, which officially launched in the U.S. in October 2019, analyzes data from more than 900 sources in the food industry. This includes scientific research, niche e-commerce portals, media platforms and data on more than 7.8 million CPG products, menus and recipes. The company specializes in dissecting long-tail data, which Spoonshot's founders say is the best indicator of future trends.
So where does Spoonshot see opportunity in the food industry? Not where you might expect. When the company announced its U.S. launch in October, it also released a report outlining the opportunity fruit and vegetable peels have in the consumer product space.
The company believes that peel-based products could be sold directly to the consumer or be used a simple boosts to teas, soups, smoothies, desserts and a range of other dishes – similar to seasoning.
"The launch of our platform is the culmination of one and a half years of intensive investigation into the challenges and opportunities in the world of innovation insights for the food and beverage industry," Vasani said at the time. "Our platform directly tackles the biggest issues faced by anyone who has been tasked with understanding emerging trends and translating them into products that consumers desire. We're putting an end to rear-view insights."
Spoonshot also released eight other predictions for the food industry between 2021 and 2022.
Spoonshot was one of nine companies to participate in the first Techstars Farm to Fork cohort in 2018. Powered by Ecolab and Cargill, the program backs startups developing digital products for the food and agriculture market.
Vasani and the rest of the company entered the accelerator under a different name and a different mission. At the time, they were called DishQ and focused on creating personalized menus for restaurants. By the end of the program, they had rebranded to Spoonshot and pivoted their focus to working with CPG companies.
"We came in with not much more than an idea and months worth of research. We were met with an incredible network," Vasani said. "We made great connections with General Mills, Cargill and others and they really helped us dive into the pains of innovating on that scale."
After the accelerator, Spoonshot secured a pilot with Cargill. It later signed on other food brands to continue testing and building out its platform.
Most of Spoonshot's team is currently based in Bangalore, India, but the company plans to expand its Twin Cities-based U.S. headquarters in 2020. It is also launching in Australia, its second market after the U.S., at the end of January. Vasani said that the company also plans to raise a round of seed funding in the coming year.
"There are a lot of interesting things happening in the industry right now," Vasani said. "More startups than ever are working on food innovation – it's the hottest it's ever been."
