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When a company more than doubles its revenue and profit from year to year, it’s worth taking notice.
When that firm does something out of the ordinary like sell fresh orange juice via vending machines, it’s worth taking even more notice.
Today’s featured story is about IJooz, which uses smart vending machines to make a killing, mainly in Singapore. It’s a reminder that somewhat old-school businesses can be totally transformed with just a little tech know-how and some creativity.
Today we look at:
- Orange you glad your profit is up
- A VC secondaries firm launched by a former Peak XV Partners bigwig
- Other newsy highlights such as Japanese chip manufacturers seeing their stocks surge and Animoca Brands investing in a penguin NFT project.
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Some juicy figures
Image credit: Timmy Loen
IJooz, an operator of orange juice vending machines, appears to have cracked the recipe for fiscal success. The company’s revenue and net profits more than doubled by the end of the financial year ending May 2023.
The firm mainly operates in Singapore and is firmly in growth mode.
- Business model: IJooz has more than 1,000 vending machines across Singapore, up from just 400 in 2020. Each cup is sold for S$2.00 or about US$1.50 from IoT-enabled vending machines. The company’s staff can remotely track inventory at the machines to determine when supplies need to be replenished.
- Expansion: IJooz’s vending machines can be found in 32 countries (including more than 400 in Japan), though not all branches are company-owned. The firm has opened up its business for franchising and expanded its services to IoT-enabled refrigerators.
- Outlook: Based on data from Tracxn, IJooz has mostly been bootstrapped, with only one publicly announced investor – US-based VC firm IMO Ventures. IJooz could face supply chain issues, though, as low orange production yields in various countries look set to push up prices.
Read more: These juice vending machines are crushing it
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