Online farmers market Farmigo, has raised $16 million in Series B financing. The financing was led by new investor Formation 8 Partners and includes participation from existing investors Benchmark Capital and Sherbrooke Capital. To date, Farmigo has raised $26 million in funding, including the current round.
The Series B investment will accelerate the company's growth and expansion into new markets. Founded in 2009 by CEO Benzi Ronen, the company headquartered in Brooklyn, New York and has its development center in Tel Aviv. Farmigo currently operates in New York, New Jersey and Northern California, and is launching in Seattle-Tacoma on October 14, 2015 - making Farmigo the farm-to-fridge service with the largest footprint in the US to date.
Farmigo has built a unique technology platform to connect consumers directly to local farm-fresh food that is harvested or made-to-order, using a just-in-time model where the only food that is harvested is what is already ordered in the marketplace. This allows the company to provide the freshest food while also reducing waste and spoilage. Farmigo brings food orders to central neighborhood pick-ups where people already convene such as a school, a private home or a workplace.
Ronen said, "Through technology, we're able to reconnect people to their food, to their local farmers and food makers, and to their communities. The food we're able to source is the highest quality, since we collapse the long distribution chain of supermarkets and provide food straight from the producers' harvests. This enables us to champion small independent farms and food makers and give them a larger cut. Our goal is to replace the antiquated supermarket model. We're building a better food ecosystem that's better for all of us for our families, our communities, our farmers and the environment."
Formation 8 Founding Partner Joe Lonsdale said, "Farmigo's technology and community-driven distribution model allows it to reach more people in a way that's affordable for consumers and sustainable from a business perspective. This is an extraordinary advantage over door-to-door delivery models that will be critical to win in the rapidly-changing food landscape."
Farmigo said that its business has more than doubled in early 2015. Sales are five times higher than last year and are expected to triple again in the next six months. Farmigo is currently feeding more than 15,000 families each month in more than 350 neighborhoods and working with more than 150 producers. Farmigo reports that it adds about 2,000 families and 20 new producers each month.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 1, 2015
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