Online grocery startup Misfits Market announced it closed a $200 million Series C funding round on Wednesday. The company, now valued at over $1 billion, is the only direct-to-consumer online grocery service to surpass unicorn status to date, according to a news release.
New Jersey-based Misfits Market offers a subscription service that ships misshapen, organic produce to users on a weekly or biweekly basis. The food delivered to customers would have otherwise been thrown out at the farm before hitting grocery store shelves.
As many grocery shoppers turned to online shopping last year, Misfits Market saw 5x growth in active customers and shipped more than 77 million pounds of food across the U.S. The company rescued the same amount of food in the first four months of 2021 as it did in all of 2020, according to the release.
“In 2020, Misfits Market found itself in the middle of a global sea change — the food supply chain experienced a once-in-a-100-year disruption, with major institutions and households changing the way they source and consume food,” Abhi Ramesh, Misfits Market founder and CEO, said in the release.
Some of the $200 million funding round will be used to complete West Coast expansion. Misfits Market is building out a facility in Utah that will serve as the company’s West Coast headquarters bringing 2,000 jobs to the area in the next five years.
Other funds will be used to expand product offerings. In Q2, Misfits Market will launch the delivery of meats and seafood from sustainable producers. The animal-based proteins, which range from free-range chicken to wild-caught cod, are raised without antibiotics or hormones. Plant-based options will also be available.
The recent funding round was led by D1 Capital and Accel. Valor Equity Partners, Greenoaks Capital, Third Kind Ventures and Sound Ventures also participated in the round.
Misfits Market plans to double its current team of more than 1,000 people in the next year with hiring taking place across all teams. Misfits Market is currently hiring for 18 positions, including engineers, IT specialists and data analysts.
Misfits Market has offices in Pennsauken, New Jersey, and New York City. Its grocery boxes can be delivered to most ZIP codes in 38 states and Washington, D.C. Since launching, Misfits Market has raised $301.5 million, including an $85 million round last year and another $16.5 million in 2019.
