The online seller of discounted and ‘ugly’ produce reportedly notched a valuation of $1.1 billion.

Online and D2C grocery platform Misfits Market announced its Series C round of $200 million co-led by Accel and D1 Capital. Other participants in the round included existing investors Valor Equity Partners, Greenoaks Capital, Sound Ventures, and Third Kind Ventures. The startup confirmed it had achieved unicorn status with this oversubscribed funding round. (CISION PR Newswire)

Misfits did not officially declare a valuation, but according to Bloomberg, which quoted confidential sources, the startup garnered a tag of $1.1 billion.

Misfits’ total funding to date now stands at $301.5 million. The start-up has come a long way from those early days in 2018 when founder Abhi Ramesh noticed on an apple-picking trip how perfectly edible apples were being rejected on just aesthetic grounds. Inspired, he set up a website to sell this ‘ugly’ but wholesome produce.

Misfits is the only D2C (direct-to-consumer) online grocery service delivering quality products discounted up to 40% compared to those offered by premium, on-demand/in-store grocers.

The startup seeks to ‘rescue’ food and prevent waste as well as significant losses for farmers and producers.

Today, its mission is to eliminate food deserts in America by 2025 because millions of Americans still do not have access to quality foods.

Pandemic-triggered disruption of supply chains

“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,” said Abhi Ramesh, Founder and CEO, Misfits Market in a statement.

Misfits became an essential service, and saw a 5x growth in its active customers and order volume last year, shipping more than 77 million pounds of food to over 400,000 customers across the US.

“Direct-to-consumer models aren’t anything new in the food industry, but the approach Misfits Market has taken is,” said Ryan Sweeney, Partner at Accel and Misfits Market’s newest board member. “Instead of focusing only on their end customer, they’ve managed to create a dynamic solution that also supports food suppliers at every level.”

Use of funds

“With this capital infusion, we plan to complete our expansion to the west coast and continue to expand the selection of organic produce and high-quality, sustainably-sourced proteins and pantry items, getting us one step closer to our mission of making sustainable and affordable food accessible to every community across America,” says Ramesh.

It also aims to double its current team of over 1,000 employees with new hires in the next year across all teams, including product, engineering, marketing, and operations.

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