Did you know that the locally-sourced food market in the U.S. has grown explosively in recent years. Forty percent of consumers now purchase local food on a weekly basis, and 90 percent of consumers are looking specifically for fresh food at their grocery store. But, despite the rapid growth of this market, local food is only about three percent of what we eat today.
That’s where Forager comes in. We want to fundamentally change how wholesalers buy local food and enable them to meet the consumer demand for local food. We digitally streamline the manual and time-consuming process of sourcing local food through our mobile platform. We’re helping grocers save up to 60 hours a week - and that’s just the start! Buyers are saving hundreds of checks with our e-payments and seeing reduction of errors, without having to deal with paper invoices. Farmers are witnessing increased sales, improving their efficiency, and getting paid faster. By giving buyers and farmers that time and money back, they can focus on what they love most: growing and sharing local food.
We’re based in Maine, a leader in the local food movement with an $800 million agriculture and aquaculture economy. With our growing network of wholesale buyers and local farmers, we are changing the way we source our food.
Overview
Funding Rounds 1
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Mentions in press and media 7
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| May 14, 2021 | Forager Raises $4M in Funding | Forager, a Portland, ME – based company focused on connecting local farmers with grocers to bring consumers healthy, locally sourced food, raised $4M in funding. The round was led by a number of private investors including Duncan Saville of... |
| Oct 13, 2020 | Startup Spotlight: Forager wants to help local food digitalize by connecting farmers and buyers | The Covid-19 pandemic has rocked the local food movement in the US. Some farmers who relied on wholesale accounts found themselves with a plethora of food and nowhere to sell it. Others couldn’t keep up with demand fast enough as consumers ... |
| Jul 25, 2018 | Grocers Are Failing to Meet $20bn Consumer Demand for Local Food | Forager, a local food digital procurement platform, recently conducted a survey of shoppers in New England and upstate New York. Results from the survey lent credence to their hypothesis: while the demand for local food has never been great... |
| Jun 16, 2017 | This Founder Knew When it Was Time to Step Down and Let Go | David Stone has lived the big-company corporate life and the startup life. There’s no contest. He prefers the latter. Stone has been involved in eight or nine startups in senior roles, though he only founded or co-founded three of those—Spo... |
| May 23, 2017 | Forager Secures Funding from Coastal Enterprises in Maine | Forager™, a company focused on making locally sourced food widely available to all, announced that it has secured a new round of funding from Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI) in Maine. "Our goal is to grow good jobs, environmentally-sus... |
| May 23, 2017 | Forager Secures Funding from Coastal Enterprises in Maine | Forager™, a company focused on making locally sourced food widely available to all, announced that it has secured a new round of funding from Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI) in Maine. "Our goal is to grow good jobs, environmentally-sus... |
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FAQ about Forager - Local Sourcing, Simplified
When was Forager - Local Sourcing, Simplified founded?
Forager - Local Sourcing, Simplified was founded in 2015.
How much funding has Forager - Local Sourcing, Simplified raised?
Forager - Local Sourcing, Simplified has raised $4M in total across 1 funding round.
What has the press written about Forager - Local Sourcing, Simplified?
Parsers VC has collected 7 articles mentioning Forager - Local Sourcing, Simplified, among them “Forager Raises $4M in Funding” (May 14, 2021) and “Startup Spotlight: Forager wants to help local food digitalize by connecting farmers and buyers” (Oct 13, 2020).
Is Forager - Local Sourcing, Simplified still active?
Yes, Forager - Local Sourcing, Simplified is active; its latest activity on Parsers VC dates from Jun 22, 2023.