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ProducePay’s platform helps connect — and fund — fresh produce growers and buyers.Image Credits:ProducePay
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Food wastefulness is a major problem .
In the U.S. alone , roughly30 % to 40 % of the provision ends up in landfill . A United Nationsreportestimated that around one - third of theworld’sfood is wasted every twelvemonth , adding up to 1.3 billion tons — deserving almost $ 1 trillion .
turn over the scale — and social implications — of food waste , it ’s not surprising that there ’s an full cohort of startups attempting to tackle the challenge from various Angle .
Yume’splatform help manufacturers turn potential food waste into cash . Divertaims to tackle grocery fund waste algorithmically . Idais applying AI to attempt to prevent surplus in supermarkets . AndChocois fostering a more sustainable food system for restaurants and suppliers .
Another among the food waste - fighting venture is Los Angeles - basedProducePay , whose stated charge is to give reinvigorated green goods growers and buyers greater transparency — and flexibility — in the grocery supplying chain .
“ ProducePay is on a mission to rule out the economic and food waste material get by the volatile and fragmented nature of today ’s global sweet produce supply string , ” CEO Pat McCullough told TechCrunch in an email interview . “ Our [ platform ] is giving growers and buyer bang-up control of their business enterprise by offer unprecedented access to capital , a spheric trading internet , insights and provision chain profile . ”
Pablo Borquez Schwarzbeck founded ProducePay in 2015 , shortly after graduating from Cornell with his MBA .
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Schwarzbeck ’s first exposure to produce supply issues was on his household ’s asparagus and grape vine farms in Mexico . As a young adult , Schwarzbeck , who ’s now ProducePay ’s executive director , go on to crop for the Giumarra Companies , a fruits and vegetables cultivator , where he aver he come to really grasp the magnitude of the disadvantage growers face .
“ A exclusive shipment of garden truck typically travels 1,600 Swedish mile , and will be handled by four to eight intermediaries , ” Schwarzbeck said . “ Along the room , factors such as unpredictable weather , fluctuating market place , crop disease and pest create a constant state of instability that wreaks mayhem across the supply chain . This unpredictability and volatility , coupled with the disconnected , inquisitive nature of the provision mountain range , resultant role in enormous inefficiencies and wasteful practices . ”
As Schwarzbeck alluded to , agriculturalist face a number of pressures — but one of the most penetrative is unconscionable competition for emptor contract . In areportfrom the environmental organization Feedback investigating international food supplying chains , six out of 10 farmers let in to overproduce to avoid losing contracts — resulting in supply transcend demand and , by extension , food for thought waste .
ProducePay ’s solution is two - bifurcate : supply chain monitoring and funding products for intellectual nourishment growers and supplier .
ProducePay supplies working uppercase to help growers and distributors pay for things like operating expenditures , technical school upgrades and land acquisitions . In addition , ProducePay extends liquidity to growers and electrical distributor post - harvest , enable growers to reach seemingly unattackable cash positions for their next growing bicycle — and distributors to appeal look for - after growers by offer up them quicker , larger payouts .
Are the loanword terms well-disposed ? Some customers think they are — McCullough claims that ProducePay is now working with over 60 commodities across 20 country , having fund more than $ 4.5 billion in harvests so far .
“ This success is built entirely on trust , ” he add . “ grower believe that we are there to serve them grow . And we ’ve build a robust web of agriculturist and buyers who we know can deliver on their commitments . ”
Beyond standalone services , ProducePay bundles its fiscal product with supply chain of mountains visibility tools to create what McCullough calls “ predictable commerce programme . ” The platform have retailers commit to fixed pricing and volume before the grow season commence in interchange for green goods from vetted growers . ProducePay ’s team of agronomists monitor and convey order quality from the field throughout each program , through expatriation and upon final comer .
One customer for which ProducePay built a program , Four Star Fruit , is leveraging it to tie to growers , advertisers and retailer in ProducePay ’s ~1,000 - customer web while bypassing “ non - value - added intermediaries , ” McCullough says . “ We ’re addressing volatility with chapiter , engineering and our team of agronomists to more expeditiously capture all of the value that ’s lost to these intermediator and other inefficiencies , ” he continued .
ProducePay ’s line — take a cut of meat of every transaction through its platform — has proven to be quite lucrative , with revenue increase 76 % last yr compared to 2022 . craft mass on the platform is up by almost 3x , according to McCullough , while transaction volume is on rail to get through $ 2 billion by late 2023 .
Evidently pleased with the figures , investors are pouring more money into Schwarzbeck ’s venture .
Today , ProducePay announced that it recruit $ 38 million in a Series D turn led by Syngenta Group Ventures , with involution from Commonfund and Highgate Private Equity , G2 Venture Partners , Anterra Capital , Astanor Ventures , Endeavor8 , Avenue Venture Opportunities , Avenue Sustainable Solutions and Red Bear Angels . The new majuscule , which brings ProducePay ’s sum leaven to $ 136 million , will be put toward supporting the troupe ’s enlargement into Europe , Asia , Africa and Australia and growing ProducePay ’s team of ~300 full - time employees .
“ Even though many industries have presented a slowdown , brisk produce will always be essential and bear on to raise as consumers demand healthier intellectual nourishment option , ” McCullough said . “ We witness it through the pandemic and continue to see that upgoing movement . ”
