Using both technology and community service to power a charitable cause, Atlanta startup Goodr is making a name for itself within the food waste management space. The company has become part of several communities across the country with its free grocery stores and pop-up markets for those in need of hunger relief. Now, after securing its Series A round of funding, Goodr is furthering work on its tech platform.
The tech-based side of Goodr’s work is geared toward helping companies eliminate food waste. Its platform enables businesses to track their edible food surplus, then uses logistics to redirect that food to nonprofits in communities that could benefit from them. Goodr recently raised an $8 million round led by Precursor Ventures and accompanied by Collab Capital to build out this platform’s capabilities.
Amid a dry period for venture funding, Goodr encountered some difficulty preceding its successful raise. Though the company began fundraising last year, according to Goodr founder Jasmine Crowe, the process was a long and arduous one. However, the value of the company’s solution at the end of the day outweighed the ongoing market volatility for many of its investors.
“Everything that could have potentially gotten wrong in some way, shape or form did, but we just kept on pushing, and then we just had some investors that backed us regardless,” Crowe told Built In. “They had just seen the work that we were doing and … were like, ‘Hey, I’m gonna put my money in this regardless of where the market is,’ and that was such a blessing to us.”
That hard-earned capital will help Goodr further its product roadmap. It’s working to build its platform out as a standalone SaaS product with additional capabilities. In addition to keeping up with food waste and letting businesses allot amounts of food to donate, the solution will come to enable things like tracking how companies’ food products are packaged and the carbon footprint of those materials.
Since Built In previously spoke with Goodr, the company has gained significant ground on its hunger relief initiatives. Recently, the company established one of its free stores in Atlanta-based Lutheran Towers, a residential facility for seniors. Next up, it’s adding a store in Powder Springs’ Tapp Middle School ahead of several others in cities like Atlanta and Denver.
The fresh capital will also help Goodr develop a solution for the end consumers at these locations. This platform will feature resources such as where Goodr’s stores are located, meal ideas or other places where they can access food.
In addition to growth capital, Goodr’s Series A consists of a $300,000 credit facility that will go toward fueling the company’s Atlanta hiring efforts. With a current headcount of around 17, Goodr expects to grow its team by 20 to 25 people over the next year across operations, technology, sales, engineering product management and more, according to Crowe.
“We are working with some of the best companies in the world and helping them with their excessive food waste and actually [addressing] food insecurity in communities everywhere,” Crowe said. “We have partners like the NBA, like Microsoft, who are coming to us because of the work that we do. And I think it just really shows that we are the leaders in this space.”
