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COMPANY: Farmshare
YEAR FOUNDED: 2022
INDUSTRY: E-Commerce, Marketplace
HQ: Denver, CO
FOUNDER: Henry Arrowood
FEATURE
11 Jul 2023

Setting the Scene

  • For every dollar you spend at the grocery store, only 14 cents reach the farmer who supplied the product. 😱

    • The rest of the profit lands in the hands of sellers and distributors in the overcrowded supply chain.

  • Why does this happen?

    • Producers, usually based in rural areas, struggle to find cost-effective ways to sell directly to consumers.

    • Shoppers lack a simple way to buy directly from independent farmers beyond the farmer’s market.

  • This week’s company takes the local farm global through a marketplace that supports farmers’ operations and allows consumers to buy directly from farms.

In a Sentence

Farmshare is a digital marketplace that provides farms with tools to sell directly to consumers and grow their businesses.

  • Marketplace: Farmers list products on the platform, and Farmshare ships food to consumers.

  • Tools: In addition to a sales channel, the company offers inventory management software, CRM, and marketing support.

Bulleted Version

  • Farmshare combines the fresh products from the farmer's market with an Etsy-like shopping marketplace. 📦
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The Basics:

  • Headquarters: Denver, CO
  • Employee Count: 4
  • Investors:

    Techstars Farm to Fork, Jude Gomila

  • Currently raising: $500k pre-seed, 50% committed
  • Business model: SaaS, D2C
  • Early traction: 86 farms with 18% MoM growth, 22% MoM platform usage growth

Due Diligence

WHAT WE LIKE
  • 👨‍🌾 Digitizing farms: Farmshare unlocks an additional revenue stream for the 90% of farms that face limited sales channels, pricing control from large-scale factory farms, and a low profit margin.

  • 🛒 An evolving shopping cart: The company is well-positioned to meet consumers’ food demands as online grocery sales are growing 12 percent each year, direct farm sales have reached $10 billion, and natural food purchases are outpacing overall grocery sales.

  • 🔁 Retaining users: By providing farms with a reliable sales channel and an expanding line of management tools, Farmshare will keep farmers engaged on the platform.

POTENTIAL RISKS
  • 🏪 In-store shopping: Farmshare relies on the mass adoption of online grocery shopping as most people buy their groceries in-store.

  • 🔀 Supply and demand: The company must ensure enough farmers consistently sell products to match consumer demand and shoppers regularly purchase food to retain farmers.

  • 🌾 Farm challenges: Farmers may be hesitant to transform their practices and adopt new technology.

    • Plus, closing and retaining low-margin customers may be difficult.

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Founder Profile

Comps

Why Farmshare

Why Farmshare: By supporting farms with a direct sales channel with higher margins, helping consumers eat sustainably, and aligning with national regulations, this business is the cream of the crop. 🌾

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