Confido
Footwork leads the Series A in the AI financial operating system for consumer brands.
At Footwork, we continue to get excited when we see how AI is transforming what was previously broadly defined as vertical SaaS. We have been more specifically focused on how COOs, CFOs, and CROs can use new AI solutions to be more efficient in managing the efficiency side of their business (read: costs) and also find new ways to grow (read: revenue). We love when a solution can point to and see impact on both sides of the P&L.
So, when James McGillicuddy, an angel investor in Confido, reached out and asked if we would like to meet Justin Hunter, the company’s co-founder and CEO, we jumped at the chance — and from our first conversation, we could tell something special was happening. The vision was huge: to modernize the entire financial operations stack for CPG brands selling in brick-and-mortar retail. The team was grounded, customer-obsessed, and shipping with the kind of speed and quality that’s incredibly rare to see together. They weren’t just building fast. They were building right.
Justin, together with his friend and technical co-founder, Kara Holinski, set out to build a company, initially in a completely different space. After going through YC and searching for product-market fit, they developed the idea for Confido. Justin had seen the pain of a brand working with retailers up close while he worked for Dan Gilbert’s family office — the patchwork systems, the broken trade workflows, the hours wasted reconciling deductions. Kara, a world-class technical builder, didn’t start in the CPG world — but you wouldn’t know it from how deeply she understands it. She leads with empathy and rigor, holding a simple but powerful philosophy: Confido’s customers should never be working harder than the team building their software.
Confido is the OS for CPG brands to manage their inventory and financials with retailers and distributors. The platform unifies the entire financial operations stack for CPG brands into one system: Cash Application, Deductions Management, Trade Promotion Management, and Sales Forecasting.
It’s flexible enough for emerging brands and robust enough for category leaders. By connecting directly to 40+ ERPs, distributors, and retailers, Confido has built a true system of record that removes friction between Sales, Finance, and Ops — and actually reflects how CPG works. Current customers include emerging brands like Olipop, MUSH, Chomps, Dr. Squatch, and Momofuku, and more established brands like Baskin-Robbins.
When we were introduced to Justin in February 2025, Confido was not raising at the time, but he was interested in getting to know us given our backgrounds in investing and operating. We have long been interested in the brand/retail space, specifically around finance, sales, and forecasting tools that will help match demand and supply. Better matching demand and supply will help brands keep more of their gross margin and reduce waste (i.e., excess inventory) while also driving up operating margins.
There are a number of other “why nows” that got us excited:
The recent explosion of high-growth challenger brands like Poppi, Olipop, and Grüns, driven by structural shifts in what millennials and Gen Z want in food, health, and personal care.
The fragmented architecture of how data flows back to brands — every retailer, distributor, and partner has its own format and cadence.
A market gap: the financial operations category in CPG has been quietly underserved for years. What Shopify did for ecommerce and Toast did for restaurants, Confido is doing for brick-and-mortar brands.
Additionally, our founder–investor fit felt obvious with Footwork’s experience in retail (Walmart.com, Ulta Beauty, and Stitch Fix), brands (The Farmer’s Dog), and software that helps brands function better (Tracksuit). As important to us, we felt a deep connection with Kara and Justin as we spent more time together. Both grew up in the suburbs of Detroit, MI, both played competitive sports (Kara focusing on hoops and Justin on football). It wasn’t just their great pedigrees with degrees from MIT and Harvard. It was how they both showed up: quietly competitive, focused, ambitious, and adept at identifying and closing the talent they need to build Confido into the operating system for brands.
Today Confido is announcing $20M raised across its Series A and Seed rounds — see more here in NOSH, and on the company’s blog. Footwork is thrilled to lead the $15M Series A, and we are very excited to be working with Justin, Kara, and the team, alongside co-investors Watchfire Ventures, Barrel Ventures, Liquid 2, Boulder Food Groups, and Y Combinator.
With this new round of funding, Confido is expanding its engineering and customer success teams, accelerating its AI roadmap, and deepening support for CPG brands of all sizes.
If you’re working inside a CPG brand and want a better way to plan promotions, recover deductions, forecast sales, and reconcile cash — all in one place — now’s the time to talk to the Confido team.
And if you're excited about building the infrastructure layer for modern retail, come join us — we’re hiring across operations, sales, engineering, and design in New York City.
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