September 25, 2024 – Crisp has closed a $72M Series B equity round, including $17M from new strategic investors including Wellington Management, Toshiba Corporation, DNX, Cox, and Prologis. This brings the total equity raised by Crisp to $97M since inception.

Crisp plans to use the new funding to expand its reach into CPG and retail channels through new features and functionality within its Collaborative Commerce platform, fuel new data partnerships and grow the business through strategic hires. 

Crisp is transforming the CPG industry to reduce waste and improve profitability by partnering with brands, retailers, and distributors through a collaborative data-sharing approach. Through integrations, AI and predictive analysis, Crisp’s open data retail platform improves transparency and accelerates data-driven decision-making across end-to-end supply chains to enable more effective forecasting, pricing strategies, inventory management, and marketing. This enables  brands to place products precisely where and when they are needed to satisfy consumer demand, minimize overage and stock shortages, reduce waste and cost, and boost revenue. 

Over the past year, Crisp has expanded from 600 to over 6,000 customers, including more than 80 of the top 100 CPG brands. Crisp now aligns with more than 40 retailers representing more than 627 million points of distribution, up from 17 million in 2023. In addition to being used for daily operational management, Crisp enables POS and supply chain data to be used to understand consumer food and buying trends, identify real-time changes in supply chain activity, and to drive best practices to prevent or mitigate common supply chain disruptions. 

For example, UNFI Insights, powered by Crisp, demonstrates the value of shared data. This platform offers manufacturers the latest sales, inventory, and deduction data as products move through distribution to retail channels. When using UNFI Insights, suppliers reduced the volume of food at risk for spoilage by 48% over a 12-month period, significantly reducing waste and cost.

“Climate change and extreme weather are putting additional pressure on partners across the food supply chain to enhance visibility, drive efficiency, and reduce waste at every stage. Crisp is tackling this in a very pragmatic and effective way—bringing key players together with real-time data and analytics, to ensure optimal supply meets demand in a dynamic, fast-moving retail environment,” said Molly Breiner, Sector Lead, Wellington Management. “Crisp’s data-centric approach to food waste aligns with our investment priorities to further scale transformative climate solutions.”

“We’re pleased to be investing in Crisp as they transform the supply chain by delivering transparency, enabling precise, data-driven decisions at every critical step in distribution,” said Will O’Donnell, managing director, Prologis Ventures. “With the goal of achieving a zero-waste food supply chain, Crisp’s work is breaking down data barriers to create a more sustainable and efficient supply chain.”

“Socium Ventures is focused on high-potential solutions that help businesses become more resource efficient and achieve tangible sustainability outcomes,” said Andrew Davis, Managing Partner at Socium Ventures. “Crisp’s innovative platform demonstrates the ability to reduce waste at scale for supply chain partners across multiple industries. We are impressed by Crisp’s strong growth and rapid adoption by customers and are excited to invest in their unique approach to optimize CPG supply chains for a more sustainable future.”

“FirstMark has supported Crisp since inception, and this latest round of funding demonstrates our continued recognition of Crisp’s unique ability to create a data network that delivers the insights needed to align supply with demand and reduce waste at scale,” said Rick Heitzmann, founder and partner, FirstMark Capital. “Over the past year, the accelerated brand adoption of the platform is an excellent signal demonstrating they are on the right path.”

“This latest round of funding signals the market’s growing recognition of the need for supply chain solutions that reduce waste and facilitate collaboration at scale. As the impacts of climate change accelerate, investors are looking to fund sustainability solutions that deliver tangible economic returns,” said Are Traasdahl, founder and CEO of Crisp. “Crisp is positioned to lead the CPG industry in these efforts. We appreciate Wellington Management, Toshiba, Cox and Prologis and the continued support of our existing investors such as FirstMark in helping Crisp achieve our vision of creating a zero-waste supply chain.”