Announcing FarmRaise’s $7.2M Seed
When I was a kid, my father and I used to plant clover seeds in the winter. I remember following in his big footprints across our pastures, scattering tiny seedlings across the February snow, my four-year-old brain wondering how anything could grow on that frozen, still landscape. The land looked dead, but deep beneath the ice, there was magic at work. Three months later, our fields erupted into a lush crop of clover interspersed with alfalfa and orchard grass, producing a big harvest that would feed our herd of Angus cattle for months.
At FarmRaise, we believe that seeds can bring a landscape to life. The vast potential of agricultural regeneration drives our vision of scaling vitality on farms across America, starting with financial access. In 2021, our team built a fintech platform that helps farmers apply for funding to make their farms more sustainable and profitable, and reduces days of research and paperwork to minutes.
9.5K farmers and $9M in funding applications later, we’ve secured distribution partnerships with Fortune 500 agribusiness companies Cargill and Corteva and closed our $7.2M Seed round led by Susa Ventures, with significant participation from Cendana Capital, Ulu Ventures, Pear VC, Better Tomorrow Ventures, Innovation for Impact LLC, Financial Venture Studio, Incite Ventures, The University of Chicago, Dash Fund, and Socially Financed Syndicate. We’re joined by an incredible lineup of angels including founders and operators like Kat Taylor, Tori Gonzales, Scott Cannon, Jackson Moses, Saumil Mehta, Levi King and Tom Shields, and farmers like Steve Welker and Zach Johnson (The Millennial Farmer).
We have big plans for 2022, including building 5 major programs onto FarmRaise to unlock funding for on-farm renewable energy, Organic and Grass-fed certifications, and market research to grow farm operations. Innovative cash flow features with margin-tracking tools will help farmers expand their businesses and benchmark their revenue. We’re laying the foundation for a digitized and scaled farmer cooperative that connects farmers with financial resources and education and mentorship to grow thriving and sustainable farm businesses. And now, we’re looking for teammates to help us make this vision real!
FarmRaise is chasing an ambitious goal: to scale up sustainable, regenerative farming practices across half of America’s cropland in the next decade. When I look around the table at our farmer-obsessed builders, investors and advisors, I know we have the right team to bring these seeds to fruition.
