Farmer’s Fridge Raises $30M From High-Profile Investors for Healthy Food Vending

September 5, 2018

Farmer’s Fridge, a company responsible for a rapidly growing network of maintenance-free, low-energy “smart” healthy vending machines designed to transform the fresh food supply chain, announced it has raised $30 million in a Series C round of funding.

Leading the round is Innovation Endeavors, the venture firm launched by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and participants include Finistere Ventures, Cleveland Avenue, Danone Manifesto Ventures, GreatPoint Ventures, DNS Capital, DOM Capital,  and Hyde Park Angels.

Founded in 2013, Farmer’s Fridge now controls 186 smart touchscreen vending machines that let customers choose from a menu of meals and snacks including quinoa bowls, peach caprese salad, smoked cheddar Cobb salad, or an almond butter oats bowl – each of which includes hand-cut vegetables and dressings, as well as local seasonal ingredients when possible. Salads are produced and packaged in recyclable mason jars and are sold for approximately $8 – a very competitive price to comparable quick service restaurants.

“Farmers need to capitalize on new revenue streams by finding creative ways to showcase their best produce as the industry rethinks the food supply chain. Farmer’s Fridge fills a gap and gives farmers a way to offer fresh, nutritious meals to on-the-go consumers in a convenient and accessible form,” noted Arama Kukutai, co-founder and partner at Finistere Ventures.

The company prepares each dish in its Chicago-based kitchen, and has developed a proprietary software platform with an in-house team of engineers to leverage a predictive algorithm to determine production volumes at each of its machines to ensure a seamless customer experience and a minimum of food waste. Customers can also use a linked app that allows them to check inventory at nearby vending machines and earn rewards.

“With strong technology roots, Farmer’s Fridge uses its proprietary self-serve system to better understand what today’s discerning consumers want, while also automating critical feedback loops to inform better menu choices and smarter restocking efforts,” said Kukutai. “We see a lot of synergy with our other portfolio companies across the food and agriculture supply chain.”

The company plans to use the capital gained through this round to support its initial expansion beyond Chicago and Milwaukee to include other Midwest cities such as Detroit, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, and St. Louis, as well as beyond the Midwest to other U.S. regions. Crain’s reports that the funds will also be earmarked to continue the expansion of the Farmer’s Fridge team which has already grown from 80 at the beginning of this year to 130. By the end of 2018 the company plans to double its engineering, sales, production, and marketing teams, for a total of 200 employees.

-Lynda Kiernan  

Lynda Kiernan is Editor with GAI Media and daily contributor to GAI News. If you would like to submit a contribution for consideration, please contact Ms. Kiernan at lkiernan@globalaginvesting.com.

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