Salad-and-bowl restaurant Sweetgreen announced a new funding round that is taking its valuation to an eye-popping $1B USD. With only a hundred stores at the moment, this implies that each store is worth around $10M USD. Fidelity Investments led the funding round while JPMorgan acted as sole placement agent for this offering.
In particular, the Series H funding round is worth $200M USD. The company details in the announcement that the funding will go towards expansion and adoption of new technology. Sweetgreen aims to build a new food platform that will include an expanded menu category.
According to the announcement, the latest funding round takes the total raised equity to $365M USD since first opening its doors.
Sweetgreen Announces Funding round to Leverage Blockchain
Speaking to Forbes, Jonathan Neman, CEO of the company, said their aim is to go beyond a mere food company.
“We want to take all the things we’ve built for ourselves—our best-in-class supply chain, operating model, our ordering channel, etc.—and use that to expand out into other food categories and expand the platform closer to customers’ homes,” Neman outlined in the interview.
Interestingly, the restaurant is a joint venture among three college classmates who started it in 2007. Apart from Neman, the other Co-Founders are Nicolas Jammet and Nathaniel Ru.
As per Neman, the restaurant will not stop at expanded menus and customized orders to kiosks. The CEO said in the interview that Sweetgreen will leverage blockchain technology “to improve supply chain visibility and traceability is on Neman’s radar, and personalization is a big priority for the company, too.”
To Replace McDonald’s
This sentiment aligns with the company’s official statement when announcing the latest funding round. In the statement, Sweetgreen says it will utilize blockchain to re-imagine their supply chain and creation of a new platform.
Specifically, the funding will help towards expansion of their digital platform, and incorporation of blockchain in supply chain. Further, Sweetgreen plans to use the funding to expand its footprint in existing markets with further foray into new markets.
Additionally, the company plans to expand Outpost, which brings customized orders to kiosks in corporate offices for no delivery fee.
Furthermore, Sweetgreen announces this funding round will better its social impact. This includes expansion of programs like the “Sweetgreen in schools program.” In essence, the program “re-imagines school cafeterias and food education.”
“At the end of the day, we want to replace McDonald’s as the global iconic food brand,” Neman concluded.
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