Spirits and Tech Startup Endless West Raises $60M in Series C

Spirits and tech startup Endless West announced Wednesday (Feb. 9) that it has raised $60 million in a Series C funding round, bringing its total investments to $95 million.

Endless West uses a tech-driven process to make molecular spirits, with the products helping drive sustainability and scalability and mitigating supply chain issues, according to the release. The company has reportedly identified “identifying key flavor and aroma molecules (or notes),” extracting them from more “efficient” sources in nature, such as plants, fruits and yeasts.

The new funding will go toward helping to roll out a business-to-business (B2B) platform, Blank Collective, domestically and internationally.

Blank Collective will offer services for creative product development, and production services for companies wanting to roll out new brands or boost margins, making the Endless West model available for other companies for the first time.

“Since we founded the company we’ve been pushing the boundaries of what people thought was possible in the wine and spirits industry,” Alec Lee, co-founder and CEO of Endless West, said in the release. “I’m thrilled to announce this next round of funding that will help us take our incredible technology to the world and make it available for others looking to create their own great products.”

The burgeoning food and restaurant technology space has seen several other investments recently, including a partnership between Uber and Olo that aims to integrate tech and help restaurants expand.

Related: Olo, Uber Expand Restaurant Delivery Fulfillment to Include Alcohol

Olo works in on-demand commerce for restaurants, and Uber plans to put its Uber Direct tech into Olo’s Dispatch delivery fulfillment solution, which will add more efficient delivery tech available.

“Through the expansion of our partnership with Uber, we are now able to offer our restaurant brands a great addition to our growing network of delivery service providers integrated with Dispatch,” said Shalin Sheth, vice president and general manager of dispatch at Olo. “Having Uber Direct on the platform adds great value to our restaurants, who increasingly rely on Dispatch as a key solution to best manage operations and costs for delivery, given the significant uptick in demand for off-premise [dining] in the last year.”