Native.AI, a real-time market and consumer intelligence provider, announced a new platform for Food & Beverage (F&B) and Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies that enables brands to uncover, analyze and act on customer feedback to improve product offerings. The company also announced $1.75mm of strategic pre-seed funding from current and former leaders at several top companies and government agencies including Blue Apron, The Kellogg Company, USDA and more.

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“The initial addressable market for AI solutions in the CPG industry represents an incredible $7.5B of the total $62B AI market and is growing at a 42% CAGR”

Native’s new AI-powered platform uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) to deliver real-time analysis of consumer feedback from Point of Sale (POS), e-commerce reviews, social media and smart labels. With a better understanding of consumer feedback, brands can confidently assess preferences around taste, price, packaging and other attributes. This allows them to proactively adjust product formulations, supply chains, pricing, packaging and more to increase sales, satisfaction and loyalty.

“Consumers are driving market disruption and fueling innovation within the F&B and CPG industry. Without their feedback, it is incredibly difficult to make products that fit customers’ ever-changing preferences, especially in a cluttered marketplace,” said Frank Pica, co-founder and CEO of Native.AI. “With 30,000 new CPG products launching every year, the competition is cutthroat. Our intelligence allows brands to understand customers like never before and make real-time decisions on product development and differentiation. Our pre-seed funding by some of the greatest innovators in the F&B space speaks to the strong demand for this level and speed of insight.”

The company’s rapid growth and momentum in the F&B and CPG industry has gained attention from market-leading founders, executives and investors from Blue Apron, USDA, The Kellogg Company, Bunge, USAKO Group, Oppenheimer & Co., Conagra, Archer Daniels Midland, Grain Millers and Capital Innovators.

“The initial addressable market for AI solutions in the CPG industry represents an incredible $7.5B of the total $62B AI market and is growing at a 42% CAGR,” said Ilia Papas, founder and former CTO of Blue Apron. “Native fills a massive gap by equipping brands with the real-time intelligence they need to innovate and differentiate. The early market demand and customer ROI has been remarkable.”

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Native’s platform gives independent F&B brands access to first-party consumer data – which has historically been hoarded by retailers. By enabling brands to take back control of their data, Native is a catalyst for innovation and differentiation in a competitive CPG marketplace. Proven use cases and benefits of Native’s new platform include:

• Understanding customer and consumer sentiment
• Optimizing SKU rationalization
• Increasing sales, brand loyalty & customer acquisition
• Improving quality control
• Benchmarking against category-specific competitors

Native was founded in 2018 as a real-time consumer intelligence provider for Agrifood brands. After a couple years of success, Pica and Co-Founder & COO Sarah Sanders uncovered untapped demand in the larger CPG market. This insight guided a pivotal product evolution and expansion into the F&B and CPG industry. Today, Native works with Agrifood, CPG, produce and cannabis brands to fuel personalized, high-quality product development and innovation.