BOSTON—Smoodi, a food tech company that makes a robotic smoothie machine, has closed on $5 million in series A funding. The technology is available at some convenience stores, and this funding will allow the company to scale nationwide, according to Smoodi.

“At smoodi, we believe in a world where you don’t have to choose between convenience and well- being,” said Pascal Kriesche, CEO of smoodi, in a statement. “Our products are made with real fruit with no sugar added which are blended right in front of the consumer for a completely transparent experience. Convenience stores are the perfect place for smoodi because historically, it’s a place where healthy and delicious food could not be found. We have a tremendous opportunity to redefine what smoothie means in this space and help consumers to make healthy choices.”

The automated, self-serve, self-cleaning smoothie blender was created in a 2018 Harvard Business Lab by Kriesche and Morgan Abraham, and the founders call their company “healthy smoothie store-in-a-box,” according to Tech Crunch. The maker is transparent, allowing customers to watch their smoothies being made.

According to Kriesche, the company has grown its by 25% monthly and had zero churn since its commercial launch in 2021. Some convenience stores have asked for more smoothie makers after an initial polit. The CEO believes the company will grow five times over in 2023.

“This is a testament to our valued customer base who have recognized the shifting market trend in consumer’s demand for a healthy and delicious product,” he told Tech Crunch. “The smoothie market has doubled over the last five years, and the trends for fresh, healthy and vegan are only accelerating.”

Smoodie has also announced a new partnership with Dot Foods, the largest food industry redistribution company in North America.

“Dot Foods is excited about our partnership with smoodi. They have developed an innovative and fun new product offering that provides a great growth opportunity to our mutual customer base. We can’t wait to get started selling their smoodis,” said Dot Foods Director of Business Development Park Plank in a statement.

“We plan to get into thousands of locations through Dot Foods in the next 24 months and many more thereafter,” Kriesche told Tech Crunch. “The biggest challenge in scaling a business like ours has always been the frozen supply chain. With Dot Foods, we have a partner that excels at that and has the best coverage in the food industry.”

Love’s recently introduced a second robotic smoothie maker in its Corning, California, location after adding the machine to its Williams, California, store in September. The machine is a Jamba by Blendid autonomous robotic smoothie kiosk.

“We’re excited to build off the success of our first location and look forward to serving professional drivers and four-wheel customers in Corning, California,” said Joe Cotton, vice president of foodservice for Love’s. “The adoption rates of smoothies have been great, which demonstrates the need for refreshing on-the-go food for our customers. We’re proud to offer this service at a second location.”

The NACS Magazine article “Pour Me a Drink” explores the latest beverage foodservice equipment in the c-store industry, including Jamba by Blendid kiosks.