This Software Company Helps CPG Brands Manage Excess Inventory

Spoiler Alert, a Boston-based software company that helps perishable consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands manage excess inventory, announced on Wednesday that it raised $11 million in a series A funding round. The backing follows the rapid implementation of the company’s software over the last year, during which the company experienced over 400 percent growth in gross transaction value. 

The platform is used by a growing number of CPG brands to digitize their business-to-business (B2B) liquidation. In other words, brands use Spoiler Alert’s service to easily sell their excess food items and short-dated, perishable inventory. Some of its clients include Campbell Soup Company, Danone North America, Kraft Heinz and Nestlé — four of the largest food and beverage manufacturers in the world.

“One of our core beliefs is that waste is no longer a necessary or acceptable cost of doing business,” said Spoiler Alert co-founder and chief product officer Emily Malina, in a press release. “Everything we do is geared towards moving perishable inventory faster to benefit brands, retailers, consumers and the planet.”

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But just how detrimental is food waste? The answer is twofold. First, around the world, over 800 million people experience hunger, which is exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, in the US alone, it is estimated that 30 to 40 percent of food is wasted, which in turn wastes land, water labor, energy and other resources. That’s why Spoiler Alert was created — to alleviate the effects of food waste by keeping more food out of landfills and saving emissions and resources that go into food production.

Here’s how it works: suppliers can build custom offer sheets for their saleable inventory and buyers can discover products and plan orders in a matter of minutes. Suppliers then allocate their inventory in order to manage excess, slow-moving and discontinued items. Since it processes data from CPG brands on a regular basis, Spoiler Alert partnered with Files.com, a data transfer solutions company, to allow for faster connectivity, flexibility and highly responsive support.

When CPG brands use the platform, it results in increased profitability and a stronger supply for opportunistic inventory for closeout channels and other retailers. “Spoiler Alert lets us take these efforts to new heights, enabling our team to be better partners with our key retail customers and more rapidly respond to fluctuations in supply,” said Jacob Saxon, Head of US Sales Solutions for Kraft Heinz, in a press release.

Spoiler Alert is not the first company that is helping CPG brands divert food waste. Divert is another food waste mitigation tech company that uses data to minimize food waste from the retail supply chain. Other local organizations, such as City Harvest and Imperfect Foods, serve a similar purpose; however, Spoiler Alerts appears to have the broadest reach and the largest clientele.

Prior to its most recent funding round, Spoiler Alert raised $5.2 million in various seed and non-equity assistance rounds. The company will use the latest round of funding to expand its team and offerings, including investments in platform enhancements to move more inventory through various channels.