Month: November 2024

PARIS 28 November 2024 Rémy Cointreau’s newly-created corporate venture capital fund, Rémy Cointreau Ventures (“RC Ventures”), has made an investment in ecoSPIRITS. The news means Rémy Cointreau is the latest customer to participate in ecoSPIRITS’ customer investment program, following on from the four-year global licensing agreement announced by the two companies in May this year. The funding also represents the first investment made through the French spirits group’s venture capital arm, RC Ventures, which was launched this month to support the growth of innovative start-ups in the drinks industry and to help Rémy Cointreau test market trends and explore new technologies in the sector.

In May 2023, ecoSPIRITS launched its customer investment program alongside the closing of its Series A funding round. The program is only open to ecoSPIRITS’ major customers who enter into long-term licensing agreements for the company’s circular packaging technology. Under the program, eligible customers have the opportunity to make small equity investments in ecoSPIRITS with each participant guaranteed to receive the same terms as other customer investors. The program terms include restrictions that help guarantee universal access and equal treatment for all users of the ecoSPIRITS technology platform. The proceeds will be used to accelerate ecoSPIRITS’ research and development program and to strengthen its leadership position in closed loop packaging technology for spirits.

The partnership between Rémy Cointreau and ecoSPIRITS began in late 2022, when two Rémy Cointreau brands – Cointreau orange liqueur and Mount Gay rum – were introduced in ecoSPIRITS’ circular packaging technology to select on-trade venues in London. More recently, in May 2024, the two companies announced a four-year global licensing agreement to bolster this partnership and, as a result of this, Cointreau and Mount Gay rum in ecoTOTE format have been rolled out across more sites in the United Kingdom. Plans are also now underway to extend into the United States, starting with Las Vegas. The global agreement enables Rémy Cointreau to make its liqueur and spirit brands available in ecoSPIRITS’ technology in more markets around the world over the coming years.

Rémy Cointreau Ventures (“RC Ventures”) is a new corporate venture capital fund, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rémy Cointreau. It was created to support the growth of high potential, innovative start-up companies that share Rémy Cointreau’s vision and values in the wider world of wines and spirits. The fund offers financial support and operational expertise to these companies while also helping Rémy Cointreau anticipate and test new market trends, reinforce its innovative capacity and explore new product categories, client experiences and technologies within the wine and spirits ecosystem. The minority stake in ecoSPIRITS is RC Ventures’ first investment.

The investment via RC Ventures is another step for Rémy Cointreau in its overall commitment to sustainable practices across its whole business. In 2023 it announced its Sustainable Exception roadmap to reduce Rémy Cointreau’s global carbon footprint and this funding news – alongside last year’s announcement of a four-year global licensing agreement with ecoSPIRITS – marks a significant step in achieving its ambitious goals across its portfolio. The company has also committed to ambitious CO2 reduction targets, SBTi certified, aligned with the 1.5°C global warming threshold. In 2030, the Group carbon footprint for scope 1 and 2 will be reduced by 42% and plans to move towards Net Zero by 2050.

For media inquiries or general information on ecoSPIRITS, you may contact Sonya Hook, Head of Communications [email protected].

About Rémy Cointreau

All around the world, there are clients seeking exceptional experiences; clients for whom a wide range of terroirs means a variety of flavors. Their exacting standards are proportional to our expertise – the finely-honed skills that we pass down from generation to generation. The time these clients devote to drinking our products is a tribute to all those who have worked to develop them. It is for these men and women that Rémy Cointreau, a family-owned French Group, protects its terroirs, cultivates exceptional multi-centenary spirits and undertakes to preserve their eternal modernity. The Group’s portfolio includes 14 singular brands, such as the Rémy Martin and Louis XIII cognacs, and Cointreau liqueur. Rémy Cointreau has a single ambition: becoming the world leader in exceptional spirits. To this end, it relies on the commitment and creativity of its 1,943 employees and on its distribution subsidiaries established in the Group’s strategic markets. Rémy Cointreau is listed on Euronext Paris.

For more information, please visit www.remy-cointreau.com.

About ecoSPIRITS

ecoSPIRITS is a circular economy technology company that has developed the world’s first low carbon, low waste distribution technology for premium spirits and wine. Our patent-pending closed loop system nearly eliminates all packaging waste in the supply chain. By dramatically reducing packaging and transport, ecoSPIRITS provides a transformative carbon footprint reduction. Founded in Singapore in 2018, the ecoSPIRITS technology is now available in more than 27 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe and the Americas. Nearly 3,000 leading bars, restaurants, hotels and retailers have adopted the technology, including Michelin-starred restaurants, World’s 50 Best and Asia’s 50 Best bars and iconic hotels. ecoSPIRITS is now rapidly building a global network of closed loop service, with coverage to grow further in 2024. Together with our brand partners, importers, distributors, wholesalers, venues, and retailers, we are already making a difference. Each year, ecoSPIRITS and our partners are eliminating hundreds of tons of single use glass waste, planting tens of thousands of trees, and inspiring others to change.

For more information, please visit https://ecospirits.global/.

SINGAPORE 07 November 2024 ecoSPIRITS has released a major update to its CircularONE™ cloud-based software platform. The release represents another milestone in the company’s Intelligent Circular™ roadmap, which is ecoSPIRITS’ vision for the future of the circular economy. The new CircularONE 1.1 release offers upgraded core architecture for better management of a complex global IoT network of circular hardware assets as well as three new functional modules: native ecoTOTE tracking, advanced hardware management and user administration.

The first phase of ecoSPIRITS’ cloud-based CircularONE software was released in early 2022. Sitting at the centre of ecoSPIRITS’ circular technology solution, CircularONE is designed to improve the safety, scalability and efficiency of the closed loop packaging network. CircularONE powers operations management, supply chain traceability, and commercial intelligence for ecoSPIRITS customers. In late 2022, ecoSPIRITS announced the appointment of Derek Tang as Chief Technology Officer and additional details on its plans for the development of CircularONE. With responsibility for overall product and technology development at ecoSPIRITS, Tang has been working with his team to build the CircularONE platform into an industry-leading solution for circular network management.

The new CircularONE 1.1 release makes it easier to manage the complex global IoT network of circular hardware assets.

One of the key benefits of the new CircularONE 1.1 is that ecoSPIRITS customers can now track and manage their fleet of ecoTOTEs within a single platform. Entire ecoTOTE fleets can be pre-registered to provide a comprehensive picture of inventory level, asset locations and circulation data. Users are given the flexibility to manage ecoTOTEs individually or grouped by pallet or production batch, so they can easily be tracked through the supply chain. CircularONE 1.1 has enhanced user access restrictions, providing more flexibility to ensure that only those with the necessary permissions can track and manage ecoTOTEs.

ecoSPIRITS customers can now track and manage their fleet of ecoTOTEs from a single platform.

With CircularONE 1.1,  ecoSPIRITS’ licensed operators and partner companies can manage all of their hardware assets – ecoPLANTs, SmartPours and ecoTOTEs – through one dedicated interface. In addition, users now have access to a comprehensive historical record for each individual hardware asset. CircularONE 1.1. also helps users manage each of their SmartPour dispense systems remotely, giving them the ability to push configuration changes, such as new volume dispense settings, via the software platform. Using the CircularONE mobile app, users can also easily and instantaneously report hardware issues.

All hardware assets – ecoPLANTs, SmartPours and ecoTOTEs – can be managed through one dedicated interface, linked to the CircularONE mobile app.

Finally, ecoSPIRITS customers who use the CircularONE 1.1 benefit from an independent space to manage all the users within their organisation, giving them control over who can access the system and what can be accessed by each user. For larger scale partners, CircularONE 1.1 offers high levels of flexibility and security, allowing them to customise the system’s access controls based on their needs. Smaller scale partners meanwhile can benefit from using default settings, resulting in a streamlined onboarding process. These partners can access the more enhanced setup and control features later, if needed.

ecoSPIRITS customers can use CircularONE 1.1 to control what can be accessed by each user within their organisation.

The major update to CircularONE not only includes three new functional modules, but it focuses specifically on delivering an enhanced user experience. All user modules now fall under a unified CircularONE-themed design, while the system is also more intuitive to support a smooth user onboarding process and to reduce the learning curve for new users. By transitioning to a scan-based process across the full platform, the chance of errors derived from manually inputting data is minimised. Overall, the new CircularONE 1.1 is intuitive, efficient, and easy to use.

With a focus on user experience, the new CircularONE 1.1 is more intuitive to support a smooth user onboarding process.

The new CircularONE 1.1 release is now rolling out in phases to ecoSPIRITS’ customers around the world. In Scotland, Diageo is using the new ecoTOTE tracking module to manage closed loop operations of a fleet of Gordon’s Gin and Captain Morgan Rum ecoTOTEs. With the help of national drinks supplier and wholesaler, Matthew Clark, these ecoTOTEs move between the ecoPLANT, which is based in Kirkaldy, Scotland, and a selection of hospitality outlets operated by Stonegate, one of the United Kingdom’s largest hospitality groups. Diageo and the Nolet Group are also using CircularONE 1.1 in the Netherlands to manage the distribution of their Ketel One vodka brand in ecoTOTE format. The ecoTOTEs are filled with Ketel One at a new ecoPLANT at the Nolet Distillery in Schiedam. They are then deployed to premium cocktail company, Amanti Cocktails, for the creation of pre-mixed cocktails, after which they are returned to the ecoPLANT for cleaning and refilling.

Diageo is using CircularONE 1.1 to manage ecoTOTEs of Gordon’s Gin and Captain Morgan Rum in Scotland, and for Ketel One vodka in the Netherlands.

CircularONE will continue to develop with through a phased release roadmap for the year ahead, including the integration of new hardware and the continual improvement of the IoT interface and its performance. A dedicated ecoPLANT operating system is one of the next areas of focus on the CircularONE roadmap, with more details to be available in the coming months.

For media inquiries or general information on ecoSPIRITS, you may contact Sonya Hook, Head of Communications [email protected].

About ecoSPIRITS

ecoSPIRITS is a circular economy technology company that has developed the world’s first low carbon, low waste distribution technology for premium spirits and wine. Our patent-pending closed loop system nearly eliminates all packaging waste in the supply chain. By dramatically reducing packaging and transport, ecoSPIRITS provides a transformative carbon footprint reduction. Founded in Singapore in 2018, the ecoSPIRITS technology is now available in more than 27 countries across Asia Pacific, Europe and the Americas. Nearly 3,000 leading bars, restaurants, hotels and retailers have adopted the technology, including Michelin-starred restaurants, World’s 50 Best and Asia’s 50 Best bars and iconic hotels. ecoSPIRITS is now rapidly building a global network of closed loop service, with coverage to grow further in 2024. Together with our brand partners, importers, distributors, wholesalers, venues, and retailers, we are already making a difference. Each year, ecoSPIRITS and our partners are eliminating hundreds of tons of single use glass waste, planting tens of thousands of trees, and inspiring others to change.

For more information, please visit https://ecospirits.global/.