Forager Raises $4M in Funding to Digitize the Local Food Supply Chain

PORTLAND, ME – May 14, 2021 – Forager, a company focused on connecting local farmers with grocers to bring consumers healthy, locally sourced food, today announced it has raised $4M in funding. The funding was led by a number of private investors including Duncan Saville of ICM Limited, an international fund managing more than $2BN in funds, and Coastal Enterprises Inc. (CEI), a social impact fund focused on environmentally sustainable enterprises, among others.

“I invested in Forager for two reasons, first this is a $40 billion fast growing market that is largely analogue and in desperate need for technology so it can scale and be data driven,” said Duncan Saville, founder and Chairman of the ICM Group. “Second, the majority of people I know are interested in buying more sustainably sourced products, especially at the local level. This is an important market trend that cannot be ignored and is critical to the future health of our planet.”

Forager’s online and mobile platform digitizes and streamlines the cumbersome local food  procurement-to-payment process, saving time and costs for grocers, co-ops, farmers, producers, and other buyers and sellers of local food. The company also has a proprietary system that finds and vets new suppliers, which is an expensive and unreliable process. With more grocers prioritizing their digital investments coupled with consumers demanding high-quality, nutritious food, Forager is the only proven solution on the market. Forager reduces the complexities and considerable expenses of sourcing local food making it easy for farmers and grocers to be up and running in a matter of hours.

“In all my years as a serial tech entrepreneur, I have never seen a market sector with so much passion and commitment as local food among consumers and especially Gen Z. Without technology the industry cannot scale and expand, end of story. Forager offers a vital solution to building a scalable, local food supply chain that can deliver the freshest quality items to consumers,” said David Douglas Stone, Founder and Executive Chairman of Forager. “Local has also has proven itself as a key strategy for grocers and institutions differentiating with consumers who demand fresh, local food, especially in a post-pandemic world as Americans continue to focus on food as medicine and healthy eating habits.”

Investors see Forager as the right solution with a huge market opportunity, as local food offers one of the few, truly viable opportunities for grocers to rebuild foot traffic in their stores, while securing the loyalty of consumers. The funding will be used to further develop sales channels, build out key product features and upgrades that address both the grocer and farmer needs. Forager’s growth and new investment reflect the crucial role that local has in maintaining the quality and quantity of products offered by grocers and independent retailers.

Recently, Forager partnered with Massachusetts based Roche Bros. Supermarkets, Inc. and Bashas’ Family of Stores across Arizona. The company now operates in over 12 states with more than 40 grocers and institutions, and 500 local suppliers. Further, Forager has seen four fold growth since 2018, with nearly 200,000 local products sourced through its platform to date.

For more information on Forager’s digital pipeline for local food, please visit: https://goforager.com

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