McCain Foods Limited has bought a significant minority share in New Brunswick-based data science company Fiddlehead Technology, the company says in a news release on Feb. 4.
Fiddlehead launched six years ago in Moncton, N.B. with a focus on helping food and beverage manufacturers optimize their operations using advanced analytics, the release notes. McCain was Fiddlehead’s first customer with the companies collaborating on predictive models for forecasting sales. The companies have continued to work together throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The insight we have received working with Fiddlehead to date has been instrumental in helping McCain drive growth through data analytics,” Jillian Moffatt, chief technology officer of McCain Foods, says in the release.
Fiddlehead uses machine learning to develop solutions to some of the most complex problems in the fast-moving consumers goods industry, the release notes. Building on its initial work with McCain and other leading food manufacturers, Fiddlehead has grown deep experience around helping its customers monetize their data. With the investment by McCain, Fiddlehead will expand by hiring new data scientists and data engineers at their Moncton office.
This acquisition means McCain and Shawn Carver, co-founder and CEO of Fiddlehead, become the sole shareholders in the company.