Farmshare
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. 📦
The Basics
- Headquarters: Denver, CO
- Employee Count: 4
- Investors:
- 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.
Plus, the company will build a high customer lifetime value through repeat purchases.
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.
Founder Profile
Henry Arrowood, CEO: Previously worked in business development at Afterpayand Visa.
Comps
Market Wagon: Backed by gBETA, Hyde Park Venture Partners, New Stack Ventures, and others.
Crowd Cow: Backed by Ascend, Madrona, Unlock Venture Partners, and others.
Barn2Door: Backed by Lead Edge Capital, Bullpen Capital, ffVC, and others.
Harvie: Raised through equity crowdfunding.
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. 🌾