Barilla and Lavazza select Typeface as the winner of the FoodTech Award 2023

Barilla and Lavazza, members of the Lifestyle Tech Competence Center and renowned multinational food giants, have announced the winner of the FoodTech Award 2023. This special announcement comes after an insightful pitch day held at the prestigious UBS headquarters in Lugano, highlighting a moment of innovation and excellence. Typeface from the United States is the winner of the Award’s third edition.

Lugano, September 28, 2023 – Barilla and Lavazza, esteemed members of the Lifestyle Tech Competence Center (LTCC) headquartered in Lugano, Switzerland, came together to identify and celebrate the winner of this year’s FoodTech Award 2023. The event took place yesterday at the UBS conference center in Lugano, where numerous industry leaders acknowledged and applauded the finalists.

Centered on discovering innovative solutions within the domain of the Food and Retail industry, the initiative, co-managed by the Lugano-based M&A boutique Loomish and LTCC, was specifically targeted at startups and scale-ups actively involved in the B2B or B2B2C “Shoppable Marketing” area. These chosen enterprises hold the potential to offer invaluable assistance to Barilla and Lavazza in understanding consumer behaviors, meeting their needs, and enriching their shopping experiences. More details about the initiative can be found here: https://awards.loomish.ch/?page_id=5804.

The selection of the finalists was the result of a multi-step journey that began earlier this year and included: an industry workshop to determine the year’s innovation requirements, global scouting, receiving over 70 applications, as well as the selection of the 12 finalists who presented their technological solutions in front of a high-profile jury panel today.

The jury panel comprised top executives from Barilla and Lavazza, key figures from prominent Swiss and Italian retailers, and senior leaders from member companies of LTCC, which include organizations like Accenture, Microsoft, SUPSI, UBS, and USI as well as venture capital firms like New Epoch Capital.

The winner of this year’s Food Tech Award 2023 is:

Typeface  https://www.typeface.ai/

Typeface is the generative AI platform to supercharge personalized content creation for businesses. By uniting content velocity with brand personalization and control, any enterprise can create on-brand content faster and easier than ever before. Typeface raised $165 million from Salesforce Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Madrona, GV (Google Ventures), Menlo Ventures, and M12 (Microsoft’s Venture Fund).

By earning the prestigious title of FoodTech Award 2023 winner, Typeface will also have the opportunity to explore a pilot project in partnership with Barilla and Lavazza.

Luca Ravazzoni, Channel Team Senior Manager e-Commerce at Barilla Group, said:

“We are pleased to be part of the third edition of the FoodTech Innovation Award, an initiative that brings together industry partners like Barilla and Lavazza, players in the Retail world, and the Lifestyle Tech Competence Center.

Together, we aim to address current and future challenges affecting the Food & Retail industry. In an increasingly complex phygital ecosystem, rich in online and offline touchpoints, a personalized and seamless shopping experience becomes crucial for the shopper. This is the focal point of this year’s start-up call: to create a more modern, satisfying, and personalized omnichannel shopping journey.

We believe that through collaboration, technological innovation, and analytics work, we can develop tangible value for both the shopper and the Food & Retail industry.”

Andrea Bello, Innovation and Experience Senior Manager at Lavazza Group, stated:

“We are thrilled to continue our collaboration with LTCC, an innovative environment where the sharing of knowledge and expertise is fundamental to the development of effective solutions. The shopping experience is rapidly evolving from an omnichannel approach to an optichannel one, a choice increasingly clear and direct by consumers, who are now empowered by technology.

Thanks to the FoodTech Innovation Award, we had the privilege of witnessing extraordinary proposals that demonstrate how the interaction between startups and industry allows us to explore new opportunities for innovation and success. In this context, we would like to congratulate all participants and finalists for their extraordinary commitment and the high-quality solutions they presented. We hope that the winners can join us and contribute to innovating the world of Food & Retail.”

Gabriele Amadò, Responsabile Clientela aziendale UBS Area di Mercato Ticino 2, commented:

“Hosting the FoodTech Award 2023 at our Lugano branch is a true honor. We strongly believe in innovation and talent development, understanding that embracing change and new ideas is paramount for transforming the present and building a better future. We are excited to witness how the selected startups have the potential to provide valuable assistance to companies in the industry by understanding consumer needs, analyzing their behaviors, and enhancing their shopping experiences. As a financial partner, it brings us great pleasure to support the Lifestyle Tech Competence Center in these endeavors. Together, we are creating opportunities to shape the technological landscape and inspire the next generation of talents.”

Carlo Terreni, President at LTCC and founder at Loomish, affirmed:

“We are delighted to have hosted the FoodTech Award 2023 at UBS in Lugano. It was an incredible experience to bring together visionary thinkers and creative minds from all over the world. The fact that we could draw in groundbreaking ideas from across the globe to enhance Ticino’s innovation landscape speaks volumes about what can be achieved through teamwork and creative problem-solving.

This initiative is something that fills us with immense pride, and we are eagerly looking forward to the fourth edition! We are excited about the possibilities it holds, building even more game-changing partnerships and watching as innovation in the Food & Retail industry takes shape before our eyes. It’s an exciting journey, and we can’t wait to see where it leads us.”

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