US e-commerce marketplace Grovara secures $5.5 million in new funding

The complex task of exporting isn't always easy for small natural and organic food suppliers, but Grovara hopes to change all that.

Grovara, which has developed an e-commerce platform specifically for international sales in the health and wellness market, raised $5.5 million in a seed round in March this year.

The company was founded in 2010 but only started on its current path a few years ago and is now growing rapidly. Its revenue, which mainly comes from transaction fees, increased 2.5 times last year compared to 2019 revenue . Kamara expects revenue to increase fourfold this year. The new funds will be used for sales and marketing , as well as enhancing the platform.

Grovara's technology connects U.S. health product suppliers such as GT's Living Foods , Honey Stinger , True Citrus and That's It with retailers in more than 40 countries. They include Walmart in Mexico , Whole Foods in the U.K. , Cencosud in Latin America and Costco in Taiwan.

“We have about 100 suppliers now, and they are all brands,” Kamara said. He expects to add about 250 brands this year and hopes to have 1,000 by 2022.

Pottruck estimates that annual domestic sales for U.S. health brands are about $100 billion , but international sales are only $10 billion. According to Kamara, more than 90% of Grovara’s customers come to the company without any international sales experience.

Grovara's platform handles many of the essential functions that enable healthcare suppliers to export and foreign retail consumers to learn about and purchase the products of these suppliers.

“They are taking the brand from their warehouse to the destination country without leaving any stone unturned, ” Kamara said .

Grovara works closely with SPINS LLC, a data services provider that enables suppliers to assess their performance and retailers to identify health market opportunities. SPINS was an early investor in Grovara and participated in the recent funding round. According to Kamara, through Grovara, SPINS will have access to international data for the first time.

Grovara is working on a project called “Pallet Maker ,” which will include an automated ordering process designed to load pallets in the most efficient way based on the size of the products being stacked. The service will use a special algorithm , Groverman explained . But it’s a complex endeavor and progress is currently slow.

USA

E-commerce

Grovara