Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Stephanie Pope could be the next CEO of Boeing, the Texas woman who asked the state to authorize her abortion is seeking the procedure out-of-state, and a founder is building a new online discount store. Have a terrific Tuesday!
- Coupon clipping. In 2019, Louise Fritjofsson cofounded a company that launched small food brands. A four-time founder passionate about sustainability, she wanted to cut down on wasteful packaging. But she found that she ended up with overstock products. "Why does it matter if you have recyclable packaging if no one's using it?" she thought.
And, she realized, overstock was expensive for brands. So she pivoted in early 2021 and launched Martie, an online discount store that started with shelf-stable grocery products. Martie has raised $7 million in a round led by Upfront Ventures with participation from Day One Ventures, Fortune is the first to report.
The online store stocks a rotating selection of about 500 products at a time from brands ranging from Fly by Jing to Annie's mac and cheese, with a goal of selling discount products in a more appealing way compared to traditional discount retailers with branding of its own, rather than dollar-store neglect. (It doesn't sell fresh or frozen foods.) While she started in grocery, Fritjofsson eventually sees the shelf-stable category making up just 20% of inventory as Martie expands to personal care and home. For now, she sees an opportunity to compete in online grocery, dominated by chains and Instacart, by competing on affordability instead of what she calls a "race to the bottom" on convenience. Martie purchases take about three to five days to arrive, and the average order saves customers about $54 compared to conventional stores.
Fritjofsson is inspired by Ikea—she's originally from Sweden—to build a company for what she calls "the many people." Unlike online grocers targeting affluent, young customers in major cities, she wants to reach customers in other parts of the U.S. Martie shoppers are so far mostly in suburban areas and are 45 years old on average.
But Fritjofsson does take a cue from Instacart in another way: ads. One of her startups before Martie was AdProfit, a Stockholm-based tool for marketers. She's observed the way Instacart, under CEO Fidji Simo, has layered an ads business on top of its flagship grocery delivery model and sees potential for her early-days startup. "I can't wait," she says of the potential for her company to diversify its revenue. "There's data, then there's ads, there's B2B sales. There's so many other pathways."
Fritjofsson has four startups and two exits behind her (AdProfit sold to the Swedish holding company VO2 Cap). She sees lots of potential acquirers out there for a growing discount business—but, she says, "I've never IPOed a company." "That's definitely a chip on my shoulder," she says.
For now, Martie is early in its path to the public markets. Currently, sales are growing 30% month-over-month, the startup says. (It declined to share revenue figures.) The startup has relied on word of mouth and local media rather than marketing. "The growth she’s achieved with minimal marketing spend should be a case study for all founders," says investor Masha Bucher of Day One.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe
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