Update as of October 13, 2022: Blendid’s raise is closing tomorrow. The company has made significant strides since our update, and we feel you should know the very latest in case you want to make a last minute investment.
In July 2022, Blendid opened a Jamba by Blendid at UCLA. It has been a huge success so far and is producing significantly higher revenue than any other location. With 40,000 students, the school could easily implement at least three more kiosks.
The importance of this can’t be overstated. UCLA is seen as the gold standard in college food quality. When UCLA makes a big decision, other universities tend to follow suit, particularly in California. Blendid should be able to piggy-back off the success of its UCLA location to get into other University of California schools. At that point, getting other universities nationwide to hop on board becomes a lot easier.
Blendid’s current raise has also been very successful, and the company is intending to raise $5 million by the end of this raise. In our view, this will likely be Blendid’s last public raise. Institutional investors are already knocking on the door. Private equity, venture capital and family office firms are beginning to show interest. This is rare for robotics companies given how new the technology is. But Blendid is different. The company is not stuck in research and development like its competitors. Its products are on the market. And they’re kicking butt.
Looking forward, Blendid plans to move into new verticals. The company is already in truck stops through its partnership with Love’s Travel Stops. It’s expecting to open up a kiosk in a major hospital by the end of this year. The company is also in the middle of negotiating an agreement with a large fitness club chain.
The Opposite of Regret
When we first recommended Blendid in 2020, this is the headway we hoped for. It’s gratifying to see it go from hope to reality. Blendid’s future looks brighter than ever. The company is riding major tailwinds given the success of the last six months. We encourage you to take another look at this investment opportunity if you haven’t already done so.
We first recommended Blendid in December 2020. The company develops automated smoothie kiosks that can run 24/7 without any human intervention. When we recommended Blendid, the company had just announced its partnership with Jamba Juice and Walmart. Since then, the company has added new locations, secured new strategic partnerships, and started raising a Series B round.
Expanding Locations
When we first recommended Blendid, it had just three locations in the San Francisco area. Today, Blendid has five locations, including an East Coast kiosk in Georgia. According to CEO Vipin Jain, the company will announce plans to open more locations in the coming months, with a location already scheduled to open in Los Angeles later this year.
We were also able to get more clarity on Blendid’s relationship with Jamba Juice. The agreement sets minimum commitments from Jamba Juice to purchase Blendid kiosks over multiple phases. The current phase 2 of the agreement indicates a commitment from Jamba Juice to buy 10 kiosks. Phase 3 is a minimum of 30 kiosks. Phase 4 is a minimum of 100 kiosks, and phase 5 is a minimum of 400.
With this phased approach, Jamba Juice will be able to slowly roll out the Blendid kiosks to franchisees depending on demand. At this point, Jamba Juice franchisees are not obligated to purchase the Blendid units. However, Jain told us that Blendid has a full funnel of Jamba Juice franchisees that have shown serious interest in purchasing them.
Exciting New Partnerships
On July 20, Blendid and Jamba Juice announced their partnership with Love’s Travel Stops, a family-owned chain of 500 truck stops across 41 states. The first kiosk will open later this summer in Williams, California. This is big news for Blendid, as it marks an expansion into the rest stop industry.
Earlier this year, Blendid announced a partnership with Sodexo, a food and facilities management company for schools, universities, hospitals, senior living communities, and other venues. Sodexo and Blendid have already launched a joint kiosk at Georgia College. Given Sodexo’s deep reach in these high-traffic communities, this partnership stands to benefit Blendid immensely in the coming months and years.
Three More Crowdfunding Rounds
Today, Blendid is in the middle of its Series B Regulation A raise at a $78.3 million valuation. This valuation is just 56.7% more than the $50 million valuation Blendid had in its 2020 MicroVentures raise. Jain explained the reason for this cautious valuation increase: if Blendid raised its valuation too drastically, the company could be forced to raise a new round at a lower valuation if things don’t go exactly according to plan. By slightly increasing the valuation now, Blendid can continue fundraising at an attractive valuation to investors.
Strong Unit Economics
Since we recommended Blendid, the company reported 2020 revenue of $64,119 and 2021 revenue of $276,270. In 2020, the company had three operating units. Now it has five. This clearly denotes strong unit economics given that the company was able to grow its revenue more than 300% with the addition of just two units. One of the main reasons for this is that Blendid passes on capital expenditure costs to its partners (like Jamba Juice). Since Blendid is not subsidizing hardware in any way, it has unit economics more akin to a software-as-a-service company. That is the beauty of the Blendid business model. If the company can continue adding locations at an accelerated rate, revenue stands to sharply increase in the coming 12 to 18 months and beyond.
Future Plans
Blendid is hoping to achieve profitability or reach breakeven with its current series B round. Additionally, Jain told us that the company is now in a position to begin exploring other cuisines with its technology.
But, we asked, isn’t it easier for Blendid’s robotic technology to make smoothies rather than sandwiches, soups and salads?
Jain said smoothies are actually more complicated than other foods due to texture and consistency requirements. Due to the modular nature of the technology, Jain believes moving to other food groups is very doable in the near future.
Jain also told us that the company has major announcements coming later this year regarding new location openings. We will be sure to update you on any major announcements as we hear about them.