Tend helps working families make sure they always have healthy food.When money gets tight, families living paycheck-to-paycheck cut needed groceries. 40M Americans live in fear of not having the food they need (before COVID-19). Most live in households where family members work. These families have money right after payday, but often run out of money for food at the end of the month. We’re creating a new type of savings tool to help.With Tend, families pre-buy and save groceries (not money). Families get the security of having healthy food when they need it and earn 5% back on saved groceries. The average pilot user has pre-bought over $250 of groceries.COVID-19 is dramatically increasing food insecurity among families living paycheck to paycheck. These working families still have money coming in, but it’s often less than before and much more unpredictable. That makes managing grocery spend much harder. This is the problem Tend helps solve.

Resilience - we're improving the broader infrastructure for responding to pandemic outbreaks.,Recovery - we're positioned to support in the recovery of those directly affected.

I have a prototype or a simple version I can show my customers

I (Tim Gernitis) founded Tend after seeing first-hand the deep mental and physical consequences food insecurity has on working families.My background is in ecommerce and finance. I worked at eBay for 8 years where I built a marketing analytics team that improved our ability to influence consumer buying decisions. The idea with Tend is to use those same techniques to help people make sure they always have the healthy food they need. My last startup was a food related consumer mobile business. And earlier in my career I worked at Merrill Lynch. I started Tend after talking with 100s of grocery shoppers (mostly moms in Walmarts). These moms overwhelmingly said “money” was their biggest problem with grocery shopping. They shared how income that comes in lower than expected, a high bill, or a spontaneous debit card swipe can all mean they run out of money for food at the end of the month. Regular working and lower-middle income moms told us they skip meals so their kids can eat or they aren’t able to buy their kids the nutritious food they need while waiting for their next paycheck.Even before COVID-19, 1 in 6 kids in the US lived in a household that was food insecure. This combination of inconsistent nutrition and parent stress has a profound impact on kid’s outcomes. It’s not OK that, even in the richest large country in the world, it’s “normal” for families to sacrifice food because of financial volatility and so many kids don’t get a fair chance.

United States

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