Cheetah Technologies, a restaurant supply technology and food distribution company, announced the appointment of its new CEO, Kim Spalding. In the last few months, Spalding and the Cheetah board also collaborated on an additional $14 million funding round focused on the continued development and scaling of the company’s technology platform.
Spalding previously worked at Google, Starbucks, and McKinsey. Over the past 25 years, she has shown a deep understanding of operational change management, process discipline, and innovative technology solutions to build shareholder value and drive business growth.
Before joining Cheetah, Spalding was the SVP of Ocean Network Strategy & Platforms at Maersk, where she led strategic investments in the ocean network and innovation of new products. Before taking that role, she was the CEO of TradeLens, an enterprise SaaS start-up backed by IBM and Maersk to provide secure supply chain visibility using blockchain technology. Spalding served as the General Manager of Ads for Local Businesses and Emerging Markets at Google (2015-2022), including Travel Ads, Local Services, and Maps Monetization. She also served as a VP of Global Coffee and various operations and product roles at Starbucks, including the introduction of mobile payment on the Starbucks App.
KEY QUOTES:
“I’ve been fortunate to work with several companies that have had a tremendous impact on a global scale. Those experiences have prepared me for what could be one of my biggest challenges yet, tackling the food supply chain through technology. The challenges facing this industry impact everyone on the planet, daily. Cheetah’s technology was built to improve the entire foodservice industry by offering transparency, structuring and sharing data, and enabling excellent service. With scale, that can positively impact millions of small business owners, employees, and their customers.”
– Kim Spalding
“The $400 billion restaurant supply chain market is fragmented, strife with low NPS scores, and therefore, is in dire need of transformation. Paired with Cheetah’s technology and density of talent, Kim Spalding brings the experience and operational skills needed to tackle this complex problem. Kim’s appointment and Cheetah’s latest round of funding will help propel the team forward in a meaningful way as they work towards their mission of transforming the foodservice industry.”
– Charly Mwangi, Partner at Eclipse
“Kim could not be more perfectly positioned for this opportunity, which is why we were eager to participate in another round of financing focused on advancing Cheetah’s technology stack. We believe in spending quality time with quality people on game-changing solutions for customers. Kim and Cheetah check all of those boxes for us.”
– Paul Buser, Co-Founder and co-CEO of Sator Grove
