Grovara operates a proprietary B2B global marketplace that connects U.S. natural and organic consumer brands with vetted international retailers. The platform, launched in 2020 and built on a decade of exporting experience, provides pricing, brand and market insights and a modern B2C-style user experience for B2B commerce. Grovara connects brands such as GT’s Living Foods, Wholesome Sweeteners, Honey Stinger, True Citrus and That’s It with retailers including Walmart Mexico, Cencosud, Whole Foods U.K. and Costco Taiwan. The company announced a $5.5 million seed financing and plans to use the proceeds to expand sales and support resources in key regions, appoint leadership for brands, sales and business development, add supply-chain team members, roll out marketing initiatives, develop global partnerships, and continue product enhancements. Leadership changes accompany the fundraise: Abu Kamara moved to CEO, Peter Groverman to Chief Innovation Officer, and David Pottruck joined as lead investor and Executive Chairman. Grovara expects to onboard 200 new brands and 350 additional retailers in 2021 and positions itself to lower export barriers in a natural & organic products market the article values at $327 billion (U.S. brands $110 billion). Grovara is building a B2B e-commerce portal to make international trade easier for U.S. natural food and wellness manufacturers. Founded in 2010 by Peter Groverman and Abu Kamara, the company focuses on simplifying export sales for small and medium-sized food and beverage brands. Grovara has worked with a number of food and beverage companies since its founding and is developing its platform with help from Jon Zack’s agency EggZack and partner incubators. A late-2016 $100,000 investment from Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania is being used to expedite development, with a beta launch planned for early 2018. The company counts seven employees and hired its first full-time employee in June; logistics are run from BFTP’s TechVentures in Bethlehem while sales and tech teams are housed at Dreamit Ventures in West Philadelphia. The founders plan to onboard more Pennsylvania-based natural food brands when the beta platform launches.

Total raised

$6M

Funding rounds

2

Latest round

Seed

Latest activity

Mar 2021