Foraged, the premier marketplace for wild and specialty foods, has recently unveiled the successful completion of its latest seed funding round, securing an impressive $2.7 million in investments.
Bessemer Venture Partners spearheaded the funding round, with notable participation from prominent figures such as Jeremy Stoppelman, the Co-Founder and CEO of Yelp; Eric Baker, co-founder of StubHub; Harley Finkelstein, president of Shopify; and Micha Koffman, founder and CEO of Fiverr.
According to Foraged, the raised capital will be allocated towards bolstering its range of tools and features, aiming to provide a more streamlined and comprehensive platform for both buyers and sellers within the online marketplace.
Established in 2021, Foraged emerged in the United States with the mission to empower small-scale food producers, including farmers and foragers, by enabling them to cultivate sustainable enterprises. By providing convenient access to naturally occurring foods, Foraged aims to nourish individuals while supporting the growth of local businesses.
Jack Hamrick, Co-Founder and CEO of Foraged, said, “Mainstream awareness of wild foods has been quietly, but intensely growing over the past few years. More people than ever have discovered that there are alternatives to the local supermarket. This funding not only validates the potential of our platform but also moves us closer to realising our vision for the food system of the future – where consumers can discover and connect with independent food producers in a more meaningful way.”
Foraged enables small-scale food producers to access an end-to-end, turnkey solutions for their business, handling “everything from shipping (especially for perishable goods) to secure payment processing via Stripe to a mobile app for messaging customers, uploading photos of products and managing local pickups”.
According to the company, vendors can now effortlessly venture into the ecommerce realm, enabling them to be promptly discovered by an extensive customer base spanning across the entire country. This breakthrough facilitates consumers in accessing a variety of elusive food items that were previously unavailable in the online market.
Jeremy Levine, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, said, “Bessemer is excited to lead this financing round. We believe in Foraged’s mission to empower independent food producers and provide consumers with a unique shopping experience. Foraged has reimagined the way consumers think about where and how they get their food.”
