Toronto, ON (February 1, 2021) – McCain Foods Limited has acquired a significant minority share of New Brunswick-based data science company Fiddlehead Technology.
With this investment, McCain and Shawn Carver, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Fiddlehead, become the only shareholders in the company.
Fiddlehead launched six years ago in Moncton with a focus on helping food and beverage manufacturers optimize their operations using advanced analytics. McCain became Fiddlehead’s founding customer, when the two companies collaborated on predictive models for forecasting sales. McCain and Fiddlehead have continued to collaborate, including working closely together to navigate through the complications caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
With a focus on continuing to build its data and analytics capabilities, McCain is now investing to purchase a significant minority stake in the company.
“The insight we have received working with Fiddlehead to date has been instrumental in helping McCain drive growth through data analytics,” said Jillian Moffatt, Chief Technology Officer of McCain Foods. “We’re proud to be investing in another New Brunswick-born company that will enable us to continue using data science and technology to ensure we remain at the forefront of Canadian business.”
Fiddlehead uses machine learning to develop solutions to some of the most complex problems in the fast-moving consumers goods industry. Building on its initial work with McCain and other leading food manufacturers, Fiddlehead has grown deep experience around helping its customers monetize their data. The investment from McCain will support Fiddlehead’s expansion plans, including hiring new data scientists and data engineers at the company’s Moncton office.
“When Fiddlehead was just a start-up, our collaboration with McCain became the foundation for building our business,” said Mr. Carver. “This investment ensures we will have the talent and resources that we need to help our growing list of customers realize more value from their data.”
About McCain Foods (Canada)
McCain Foods (Canada) is the Canadian division of McCain Foods Limited, an international leader in the frozen food industry. McCain Foods is the world’s largest manufacturer of frozen potato specialties, and also produces other quality products such as appetizers, vegetables and desserts that can be found in restaurants and retail stores in more than 160 countries around the world. In Canada, the company has eight production facilities with approximately 2,400 employees and, in addition to its famous French fries and potato specialties, makes frozen desserts, snacks and appetizers.
About Fiddlehead Technology
Fiddlehead Technology applies advanced data science techniques like machine learning to solve some of the most complex problems facing the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry. For the last six years, it has helped leading manufacturers like McCain drive growth through advanced analytics, and find new ways to monetize their data.
