附近上门

The average American throws away 400 pounds of food per year, which translates to , the reported in June. is out to change that.

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The San Francisco-based startup recently raised a $9 million Series A round to further develop its cloud-based platform for streamlining supply chains in the perishable food system. Its tools provide machine-learning technology that automates operations and manages relationships up and down the supply chain in real time.

led this round, with participation from Silo鈥檚 existing investors and . Since forming in 2018, the company has now raised a total of $12 million in funding, , co-founder and CEO of Silo, told 附近上门 News. It raised about funding last year in a round that included backing from some angel investors, according to 附近上门 data.

Growth

With the new funding, Braun expects to do a few things this year: Extend Silo鈥檚 reach beyond wholesale produce toward meat, dairy and pantry items; open new offices in New York and Los Angeles; and hire more engineers to support the development of new financial services and logistical tools.

鈥淲e鈥檝e gotten a lot of product market fit in Northern California, so we are now continuing to drive growth and automation in other regions,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e are working on some different things, such as financial services and automating freight, which will give us three pillars鈥攆ood, freight and finances鈥攖o tie together to grow and expand the company.鈥�

In the meantime, Silo is working to meet the recent demand. In 2020, the company experienced 1,300 percent growth, according to Braun. He expects to keep this pace next year, especially as demand has risen overseas as well.

The company has 19 employees, up from seven four months ago. Braun wants to get the company鈥檚 workforce to 35 employees by the end of the year and is hiring in engineering and product.

What investors are saying

The food supply chain has attracted innovation to protect against waste in the past few years. Silo joins other startups we鈥檝e reported on, including , which raised $12 million in July to advance its food coating technology. In May, we reported on securing a $250 million round of funding to develop its coating product, as well as , which said it funding.

As part of the investment, , a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz who focuses on financial services, joins Silo鈥檚 board.

In a blog post, Acharya wrote that there is 鈥渁 renewed focus on having a resilient food supply chain in a post-COVID era,鈥� and that 鈥渇ood distributors are at the heart of this supply chain 鈥� as fresh food begins losing value the moment it enters the supply chain.鈥�

鈥淭hat鈥檚 why we were so excited when we met Ashton Braun and … their product has exceptionally strong market fit because it solves so many of the operational problems that distributors have,鈥� he added. 鈥淲e believe that financial services will be a key enabler of this ecosystem, where factoring and faster payments, coupled with laws like , can solve many of the cashflow challenges that growers and distributors face.鈥�

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