{"id":292783,"date":"2026-02-20T03:50:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T03:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/292783\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T03:50:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T03:50:08","slug":"smart-shopping-start-up-appetise-secures-8m-to-fuel-us-expansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/292783\/","title":{"rendered":"Smart shopping start-up Appetise secures $8m to fuel US expansion"},"content":{"rendered":"Chief executive Toby Hilliam said the funding validated the company\u2019s dual model.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year, we removed the paid subscriptions to our consumer app, essentially turning off our revenue tap overnight. The bet was that, if we removed the cost barrier for consumers while maintaining the valuable Appetise service, we could build the most robust, high-fidelity grocery dataset in Australasia.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat bet has paid off. We aren\u2019t just helping 70,000 Kiwi households answer the essential \u2018what\u2019s for dinner?\u2019 question; we are providing FMCG [fast-moving consumer goods] brands with live, behavioural data that simply doesn\u2019t exist elsewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the funds raised would be used to further accelerate its Australian market growth, enhance its platform, and prepare the business for expansion into the US.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis capital allows us to double down on our product experience, ensuring we remain the default tool for shoppers, and the default intelligence source for brands.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite launching in New Zealand first, Australia now accounts for approximately 70% of the company\u2019s overall growth, less than a year after entering the market.<\/p>\n
In the past six months, revenue has tripled, with 80 New Zealand brands using Appetise\u2019s insights.<\/p>\n
The Series A funding round was oversubscribed, led by New Zealand-based venture capital firm Icehouse Ventures.<\/p>\n
Icehouse Ventures principal Mason Bleakley said the decision to lead the round was driven by the team\u2019s ability to rapidly find product market fit while expanding geographically.<\/p>\n
\u201cAppetise is pulling off the difficult feat of growing two entirely different products simultaneously: a genuinely helpful tool for making meals, and a platform that brands can make important business decisions with.<\/p>\n
\u201cAppetise has moved beyond being a promising start-up to becoming a dominant player in its sector. In under a year, they\u2019ve established significant momentum in Australia, and the data moat they\u2019re building is becoming their greatest asset.\u201d<\/p>\n
Icehouse Ventures was not the only firm to join, with other investors returning, including OIF Ventures, Brand Fund, NZVC and K1W1.<\/p>\n
The company also received new investment from Ten13.<\/p>\n
Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.<\/p>\n
Stay ahead with the latest market moves, corporate updates, and economic insights by subscribing to our Business newsletter<\/a> \u2013 your essential weekly round-up of all the business news you need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chief executive Toby Hilliam said the funding validated the company\u2019s dual model. \u201cLast year, we removed the paid…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292784,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[40670,162012,113013,138,1288,11598,13689,32255,2678,738,90907,8454,1426,162014,1132,111,139,69,3545,34742,50435,1243,15362,1037,9939,162013,61,9938,3040,6845,12806,14301,102,113012],"class_list":{"0":"post-292783","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-8m","9":"tag-appetise","10":"tag-backers","11":"tag-business","12":"tag-capital","13":"tag-expand","14":"tag-expansion","15":"tag-familys","16":"tag-fuel","17":"tag-funding","18":"tag-icehouse","19":"tag-including","20":"tag-investment","21":"tag-k1w1","22":"tag-million","23":"tag-new-zealand","24":"tag-newzealand","25":"tag-nz","26":"tag-platform","27":"tag-secured","28":"tag-secures","29":"tag-shopping","30":"tag-smart","31":"tag-startup","32":"tag-states","33":"tag-tindall","34":"tag-to","35":"tag-united","36":"tag-us","37":"tag-vehicle","38":"tag-venture","39":"tag-ventures","40":"tag-with","41":"tag-zealandfounded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=292783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}