The meal prepping start-up, MenuAid, has rebranded into Appetise followed by a $4 million investment from Icehouse Ventures.

Originally on a mission to help Kiwis answer the age-old question, ‘what’s for dinner?’, the start-up is rebranding to focus on offering B2B shopper insights, helping FMCG brands understand their consumers and their purchasing habits better.

Rebranded into Appetise, the meal planning aspect is still here, offering the service to Kiwis for free – ditching the $4 subscription fee – as they deliver affordable nutritious meals to as many people as possible.

However, the shift in focus to give insights to FMCG companies came around when realising the opportunity that comes with providing current and realistic data.

“Until very recently, FMCG brands have made huge business decisions based on claimed data found in U&A studies and survey panels. Appetise Insights has created an accessible, real-time and reliable data source built with real shopper behaviour, so businesses can make better informed decisions,” says Appetise CEO, Toby Hillam.

“By helping Kiwis with all aspects of the dinner time process, from buying, to cooking, to eating, we’re getting an amazing understanding of our shoppers’ behaviours and the key drivers for making decisions.”

Already, Appetise has brands such as Fonterra, Lee Kum Kee, Tegel, Angel Bay and more as part of its client list.

And for these brands, they will be able to understand their consumers better.

Read more: What’s for dinner? Menuaid uses AI tech to solve the age-old problem

With the rebrand, Appetise has caught the attention of NZ’s Icehouse Ventures and Australia’s OIF Ventures who have invested $4 million into the start-up.

“Appetise has its eye on two distinct problems which are the flipside of the same coin. How consumers plan for dinner, and how producers are giving them the stuff these shoppers really want to buy. With very little initial investment they have managed to build a company that solves these two entrenched problems in a genuine way. The new capital should help Appetise raise the bar, yet again, to become inseparable from the Australian and New Zealand mealtime,” says Icehouse Ventures’ Principal Mason Bleakley.

“We have been tracking Elise and Toby for the last two years, and over this time, they have consistently delivered on all of their promises. Not only have they built a fantastic product that addresses a significant pain point for consumers but the insights they’re able to deliver to FMCG brands are incredibly valuable across a range of use cases, and they’re something these brands have never had access to before,” adds OIF Ventures investor Oliver Darwin.

From MenuAid to Appetise, the team is now on a mission to become the data powerhouse and marketing insights platform for the food and beverage industry.

Hillam says that the raise will be primarily used on global scaling into Australia, the UK and Asia.

“For consumers, Appetise will only be better than before. We’re pushing forward on the same mission to make it easier for consumers to eat healthy, save money and reduce the stress of their grocery shop.”