E-commerce represents just 7% of retail sales in the US market, but it has grown consistently, and it’s just one of many new points of product distribution that consumer packaged goods companies need to be considering. Others include concierge and on-demand delivery services, home automation platforms, point-of-sale marketing, and more. In some cases, the individual consumer is giving up control of the ultimate brand selection to these services, in favor of convenience. This dynamic challenges CPG companies accustomed to traditional retail partners and in-store marketing.
We used CB Insights data to map out the many different companies that are reshaping the future of distribution, consumer decision-making, and buying behavior around consumer packaged goods. For an explanation of each category, see below.
Areas Within CPG Distribution
- E-Commerce Distribution – Typical web and mobile platforms that allow users to create shopping carts and buy goods. As of Q4’15, e-commerce represents 7.5% of total retail sales in the US market.
- Retail Experience – Startups that are working with traditional retailers to interact with customers while they’re in the store. Some companies push relevant coupons at the point-of-sale, others use technology to track and analyze user behavior within the store.
- Influencer Networks – Thanks to social media, more and more people are developing followings with people who trust their recommendations. These startups connect brands with relevant influencers targeting demographics that they care about across a variety of social platforms (like Snapchat, Vine, Instagram, Youtube, etc.)
- Promotions – Deals and coupon sites that allow people to buy goods at cheaper prices
- Subscription – Companies that ship products directly to consumers at regular time intervals. They avoid retail networks, highly curated selections, and have predictable revenue and demand.
- Office 2.0 – Companies that help offices managers while controlling both inventory and cleaning as well as wholesale distribution to businesses. These services could control which snacks and cleaning products go to offices.
- On-Demand Cleaning – Outsourced cleaners, which could determine which home care and cleaning products are used as more people outsource this task
- Connected At Home – Companies that make your home smarter, which often create devices that are a point-of-sale in and of themselves. In the future, you can interact with your smart home to reorder materials as you realize that supply is low.
- Concierge Services/Programmatic Commerce – Companies that outsource shopping and tasks using virtual and human assistants. These companies separate the buyer from the end consumer.
A full list of the startups can be found below:
| Company | All Investors | Category |
|---|---|---|
| Africa Internet Group | AXA;Goldman Sachs;MTN Group;Orange;Rocket Internet | E-commerce Distribution |
| Alfred | 500 Accelerator;CrunchFund;New Enterprise Associates;Sherpa Capital;Spark Capital;SV Angel | Concierge Services/Chat Bots/Programmatic Commerce |
| Algramo | The Venture | Office 2.0 |
| Belazee | Cradle Fund;DeNA;Fenox Venture Capital;KK Fund;Rimu Group | Concierge Services/Chat Bots/Programmatic Commerce |
| Biglion | ru-Net;Tiger Global Management | Promotion |
| Birchbox | Andrew Hunt;BayernLB Capital Partner;BoxGroup;David Gilboa;Harrison Metal;Highland Capital Partners;Jeffrey Raider;John Winkelreid;Lakestar;Michael Marks;Neil Blumenthal;Red Swan Ventures;Rob Malcolm;SV Angel;Thrive Capital;Tiger Global Management;Wellington Management | Subscription |
| blissmo | 500 Startups | Subscription |
| BoomStreet | Apollo Creative Group;BLH Venture Partners;Linch Capital;Noro-Moseley Partners | Promotion |
| Boxed | AME Cloud Ventures;Basset Investment Group;Bessemer Venture Partners;BoxGroup;David Ko;Deep Fork Capital;DST Global;ENIAC Ventures;Fabrice Grinda;First Round Capital;Founders Fund;GGV Capital;Greycroft Partners;Jose Marin;Oliver Jung;Owen Van Natta;Safa Partners;Signia Venture Partners;Social Starts;Vaizra Investments;Zaw Thet | Ecommerce Distribution |
| CashKaro | Kalaari Capital;Ratan Tata | Promotion |
| CatchoftheDay | Consolidated Press Holdings;Gannet Capital;SEEK;Tiger Global Management | Promotion |
| Coupang | BlackRock;Founder Collective;Greenoaks Capital Management;Hartford Funds;LaunchTime;Rose Park Advisors;Sequoia Capital;Softbank Corp.;Wellington Management | Ecommerce Distribution |
| CupoNation | Columbia Lake Partners;Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners;e.ventures;Holtzbrinck Ventures;New Enterprise Associates;Rocket Internet;ru-Net;Silicon Valley Bank | Promotion |
| Dollar Shave Club | Andreessen Horowitz;Battery Ventures;Comcast Ventures;Cowboy Ventures;David Honig;Dennis Phelps;Dragoneer Investment Group;Felicis Ventures;Forerunner Ventures;Founders Circle Capital;Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers;Otter Rock Capital;Pritzker Group Venture Capital;Rustic Canyon Partners;Shasta Ventures;Shervin Pishevar;Technology Crossover Ventures;Venrock;White Star Capital | Subscription |
| Estimote | Bessemer Venture Partners;Betaworks;Commerce Ventures;Digital Garage;FundersClub;Homebrew;Innovation Endeavors;Javelin Venture Partners;Josh McFarland;Valiant Capital Partners;Y Combinator | Retail experience |
| Euclid Analytics | Benchmark Capital;Cox Enterprises;Gold Sky Capital;Groupe Arnault;Harrison Metal;New Enterprise Associates;Novel TMT Ventures;TriplePoint Capital | Retail experience |
| FameBit | 500 Accelerator;500 Startups;Allen DeBevoise;DeNA;Extreme Startups;Ironfire Ventures;Ontario Centres of Excellence;Science Media | Influencer Networks |
| Fanli | Qiming Venture Partners;Rakuten Ventures;SIG Asia Investments;Steamboat Ventures | Promotion |
| Flipkart | Accel Partners;Baillie Gifford & Co.;Dragoneer Investment Group;DST Global;GIC Special Investments;Greenoaks Capital Management;HDFC Bank;Iconiq Capital;Morgan Stanley;Naspers;Qatar Investment Authority;Sofina;Steadview Capital;T. Rowe Price;Tiger Global Management;Vulcan Capital | Ecommerce Distribution |
| Footmarks | Commerce.Innovated.;R/GA Accelerator;Shawn Englund | Retail experience |
| GoButler | BoxGroup;Cherry Ventures;General Catalyst Partners;Global Founders Capital;Gunther Schmidt;Jan Becker;Joko Winterscheidt;Lakestar;Slow Ventures;Sound Ventures | Concierge Services/Chat Bots/Programmatic Commerce |
| goDog Fetch (dba. Shenetics) | Analytics Ventures | Connected At Home |
| GlossyBox | Access Industries;Holtzbrinck Ventures;Kinnevik;Rocket Internet | Subscription |
| Grapevine Logic | Atlas Venture;Boston Seed Capital;Diane Hessan;Jere Doyle;Joe Caruso;TechStars;TJ Mahoney | Influencer Networks |
| Handy | BoxGroup;Fidelity Investments;General Catalyst Partners;Highland Capital Partners;Revolution;Slow Ventures;Sound Ventures;TPG Growth | On-demand cleaning |
| Harry’s Shaving Company | Andrew Hunt;BayernLB Capital Partner;BoxGroup;David Gilboa;Harrison Metal;Highland Capital Partners;Jeffrey Raider;John Winkelreid;Lakestar;Michael Marks;Neil Blumenthal;Red Swan Ventures;Rob Malcolm;SV Angel;Thrive Capital;Tiger Global Management;Wellington Management | Subscription |
| Helpling | Kite Ventures;Lakestar;Lukasz Gadowski;Mangrove Capital Partners;Phenomen Ventures;Point Nine Capital;Rocket Internet | On-demand cleaning |
| hiku labs | Firsthand Technology Value Fund;Otter Rock Capital;Plug and Play Accelerator | Connected At Home |
| Hostmaker | Avala Capital;DN Capital;DSG Consumer Partners;Mohit Srivastava;Nikita Fahrenholz | On-demand cleaning |
| IndustryBuying.com | Arathi Krishna;Arun Venkatachalam;Beenos Partners;Kalaari Capital;Muthu Murugappan;SAIF Partners;Trifecta Capital Advisors;Vellayan Subbiah | Office 2.0 |
| InstaBrand | TI Capital | Influencer Networks |
| Instacart | Aaron Levie;Andreessen Horowitz;Canaan Partners;Collaborative Fund;Comcast Ventures;Dragoneer Investment Group;FundersClub;Khosla Ventures;Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers;Paul Buchheit;Sam Altman;Sequoia Capital;SV Angel;Thrive Capital;Valiant Capital Partners;Whole Foods Market;Y Combinator | Concierge Services/Chat Bots/Programmatic Commerce |
| Jet.com | Accel Partners;Alibaba Group;Bain Capital Ventures;Coatue Management;Fidelity Investments;Forerunner Ventures;General Catalyst Partners;Goldman Sachs;Google Ventures;MentorTech Ventures;New Enterprise Associates;Norwest Venture Partners;Primary Venture Partners;Silicon Valley Bank;Temasek Holdings;Thrive Capital;Western Technology Investment | Ecommerce Distribution |
| Jibo | Acer Group;CRV;Dentsu Ventures;Fairhaven Capital;Fenox Venture Capital;Flybridge Capital Partners;Formation 8;Indiegogo;KDDI Open Innovation Fund;LG Electronics;NetPosa Technologies;Ningbo GQY;Osage Partners;RRE Ventures;Samsung Ventures;Two Sigma Ventures | Connected At Home |
| Juanpi.com | China Merchants Bank;Tiantu Capital;Zhejiang Financial Investment Holding | Promotion |
| ivee | 500 Accelerator;Drummond Road Capital;Foundry Group;Kickstarter | Connected At Home |
| Kobster | Splice Advisors;Start Tank | Office 2.0 |
| Koupon Media | Matthew Pritzker Company;Mercury Fund;Tech Wildcatters;Trailblazer Capital | Retail experience |
| Lafalafa | Vectr Ventures; 500 Accelerator | Promotion |
| Linio | Access Industries;Grupo Santo Domingo;Holtzbrinck Ventures;JPMorgan Chase & Co.;Kinnevik;LIV Capital;Northgate Capital;Rocket Internet;Summit Capital;Summit Partners;Tengelmann Ventures | Ecommerce Distribution |
| LoveWithFood | 500 Accelerator;500 Startups;Douglas Feirstein;Georges Harik;Great Oaks Venture Capital;Ironfire Ventures;Jonathan Ebinger;Justin Kitch;Kapor Capital;Manish Chandra;Scrum Ventures;Talmadge O’Neill;TEEC Angel Fund;Tom Peterson;Yun-Fang Juan | Subscription |
| Magic | Slow Ventures;Y Combinator | Concierge Services/Chat Bots/Programmatic Commerce |
| Managed by Q | Alex Zubillaga;Bjarke Ingels;David Stern;Gary Vaynerchuk;Google Ventures;Greycroft Partners;Henrik Werdelin;Homebrew;Jay Livingston;Jessica Alba;Josh Abramson;Kapor Capital;Len Blavatnik;Max Burger;Naveen Selvadurai;Ricky Van Veen;RRE Ventures;Scott Belsky;Semil Shah;Sherpa Capital;Slow Ventures;Steadfast Venture Capital;SV Angel | Office 2.0 |
| Matahari Mall | Lippo Group | Ecommerce Distribution |
| NatureBox | Canaan Partners;General Catalyst Partners;Global Founders Capital;Kensington Capital Holdings;Neuberger Berman;Plug and Play Ventures;Redpoint Ventures;Softbank Capital;Valley Oak Investments | Subscription |
| Nucleus | Anthiem Ventures;FF Angel;Foxconn Technology Company;Jerry Kestenbaum;Red Sea Ventures;StartUp PHL | Connected At Home |
| OfficeLuv | KDWC Ventures | Office 2.0 |
| Operator | Greylock Partners;Horizons Ventures | Concierge Services/Chat Bots/Programmatic Commerce |
| Ozon.ru | Alpha Associates;Axel Springer;Baring Vostok Capital Partners;Cisco Investments;Court Square Ventures;e.ventures;Holtzbrinck Ventures;Index Ventures;Intel Capital;MobileTele Systems;Point Judith Capital;Rakuten;ru-Net;Sistema;Switzerlands Index | Ecommerce Distribution |
| Pillow Homes | Boost.vc;Chris Hubbell;Dave Kurtz;Edgar Berger;Expansion VC;Grey Wolf;Homebrew;Jack Abraham;Julia French;Justin Brown;Lee Linden;Michael Cheung;Otter Rock Capital;Peak Ventures;Semil Shah;Sherpa Capital;Structure Capital;Tim Draper;Zach Aarons | On-demand cleaning |
| Akkadian Ventures;Andreessen Horowitz;Bessemer Venture Partners;Betaworks;Brian Cohen;Fidelity Investments;FirstMark Capital;Founders Circle Capital;Fritz Lanman;Goldman Sachs;Hank Vigil;Hartford Funds;Industry Ventures;Jack Abraham;Jeremy Stoppelman;Kevin Hartz;Rakuten;Scott Belsky;Shana Fisher;SV Angel;Valiant Capital Partners;Wellington Management | Influencer Networks | |
| Point Inside | N/A | Retail experience |
| Popular Pays | Bessemer Venture Partners;Jayna Cooke;Lakewest Venture Partners;Machine Shop Ventures;NewGen Venture Partners;Romar Capital;Social Starts;Soma Capital;Y Combinator;ZenStone Venture Capital | Influencer Networks |
| Postmates | Andy McLoughlin;AngelPad;Crosslink Capital;Dave Morin;David Sacks;David Wu;Expansion VC;Founders Fund;Jawed Karim;Matrix Partners;Naval Ravikant;Paige Craig;Russel Simmons;Russell Cook;Scott Banister;Shervin Pishevar;Slow Ventures;SoftTech VC;Spark Capital;Thomas Korte;Tiger Global Management;Walter Lee | Concierge Services/Chat Bots/Programmatic Commerce |
| ProperHands | Crystal Horse Investments;Tri5 Ventures | On-demand cleaning |
| Qlivery | Chandigarh Angels Network;Swastika Investment | Concierge Services/Chat Bots/Programmatic Commerce |
| Raise Marketplace | Bessemer Venture Partners;Jeff Cantalupo;Listen Ventures;New Enterprise Associates;Pritzker Group Venture Capital | Promotion |
| Reelio | Andrew Reis;Broadway Video Ventures;e.ventures;Jason Glickman;KRW Schindler Private Ventures;Thomas Hesse | Influencer Networks |
| Scanalytics | Wearable IoT World Labs | Retail experience |
| Scoupy | Gennie Freen Producties;PostNL;SanomaVentures | Promotion |
| Sensorberg | Berlin Technologie Holding;Garvest;WesTech Electronics;XAnge Private Equity | Retail experience |
| Service Partner ONE | 500 Startups;German Startups Group;Heilemann Ventures;Rheingau Ventures | Office 2.0 |
| Shelfbucks | N/A | Retail experience |
| Snapdeal | Alibaba Group;Bessemer Venture Partners;BlackRock;eBay;Foxconn Technology Company;Intel Capital;Iron Pillar;Kalaari Capital;Myriad Capital;Nexus Venture Partners;Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan Board;PremjiInvest;Ratan Tata;Recruit Strategic Partners;ru-Net;Saama Capital;Softbank Corp.;Temasek Holdings;Tybourne Capital Management | Promotion |
| Sonos | e.ventures;Elevation Partners;Index Ventures;Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co;Redpoint Ventures | Connected At Home |
| SoundHound | Felicis Ventures;Signatures Capital;Walden Venture Capital | Connected At Home |
| Swirl Networks | Betaworks;General Catalyst Partners;Hearst Ventures;Longworth Venture Partners;Softbank Capital;Twitter Ventures | Retail experience |
| Tailify | SEED Capital | Influencer Networks |
| TaskRabbit | 500 Startups;Allen & Company;Baseline Ventures;Collaborative Fund;Dogpatch Labs;Facebook fbFund;First Round Capital;Floodgate;Founders Fund;Golden Seeds;Lightspeed Venture Partners;Lisa Gansky;NextView Ventures;Red Swan Ventures;Shasta Ventures;Shervin Pishevar;Tim Ferriss;Tornante Company | On-demand cleaning |
| The Cleaning Authority | PNC RiverArch Capital | On-demand cleaning |
| Thrive Market | Blake Mycoskie;Brian Lee;Deepak Chopra;e.ventures;Gary Hirshberg;Greycroft Partners;Jillian Michaels;Mark Vadon;Scripps Networks Interactive;Tony Robbins | Ecommerce Distribution |
| Thumbtack | Ali Partovi;Ariel Poler;Auren Hoffman;Baillie Gifford & Co.;Cyan Banister;Denis Grosz;Google Capital;Hadi Partovi;Jason Calacanis;Javelin Venture Partners;Joshua Schachter;Mark Britto;Mark Goines;MHS Capital;Scott Banister;Scott Faber;Sequoia Capital;Tiger Global Management;Tim Draper;Vance Bjorn;Yan-David Elrich | On-demand cleaning |
| TryTheWorld | Alven Capital | Subscription |
| Vesper | AngelPad;Grey Wolf | Office 2.0 |
| Whizz Technologies | Alex Waislitz;Allen Linz;Simon Rothery;Tom Krulis | On-demand cleaning |
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