Ugly fruit and unique supply chains 🍍

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Author

Finlay Williams
July 25, 2024

2 minute wacky businesses, you can tell your buddies about 🧠

Misfits Market is the quirky cousin of the grocery world, born to tackle food waste by selling slightly wonky (…cosmetically challenged) produce at a discount. It’s like if Whole Foods and Dollar Shave Club had a rebellious, eco-conscious baby. Let’s look into what makes this business unconventional.

Interesting peak at the start of 2020 👀

Ugly fruit and homeless produce 🧐

Misfits Market was founded in 2018 by Abhi Ramesh. It's a subscription box service for "ugly" produce and other groceries that are perfectly good to eat but don’t meet retail beauty standards. Their mission? Save the planet one misshaped carrot at a time while making organic food accessible. They’ve managed to keep prices low by cutting out the middleman and buying surplus directly from farmers.

The reason Misfit Market appealed to me, was the way they harnessed the surplus supply in the produce industry and transformed it into revenue. The surplus fruit is cheaper, it reduces food waste and leads to an overall win-win situation for the supplier, the customer and Misfits Market.

What are the nuggets? 💎

🍇 Origin: Abhi Ramesh started Misfits Market with a mission to cut food waste and provide affordable produce. His background in venture capital I’m sure provided a cushy launchpad.

🍉 Pivotal Moment: The pandemic lockdowns skyrocketed their business as more people turned to online grocery shopping. Misfits Market grabbed the opportunity, raising $85m in 2020 alone.

🌽 Awesome Marketing Play: Their "Imperfect Produce, Perfect Prices" campaign flips the narrative, making you proud to munch on a misshapen carrot.

🍓 Funding: Since its inception, Misfits Market has raised over $525 million. Their funding journey includes a notable $200 million Series C round in April 2021. With this capital, they've expanded their product range beyond produce to pantry staples, dairy, and meat. The future looks bright, given their exponential growth and solid investor backing.

🍋 Acquisition: Misfits Market acquired Imperfect Foods in 2022 to combine operations, streamline logistics, and reduce costs. The merger aimed to enhance their competitive edge in the market, expand ther customer base, and share resources like distribution networks. The combined company targets $1 billion in sales and profitability by the end of 2024.

Figures laid out 💵

🥭 Annual Revenue: $130M+
🍑 Total Funding: $526M
🍍 Customer Base: 500+
🥝 Team Size: 1000+ strong
🍊 Valuation: $2 billion +

What’s the cherry on top? 🍒

Misfits Market isn’t just a grocery delivery service; it’s a testament to how unconventional thinking can disrupt an entire industry. By sourcing fruits and vegetables that are rejected by traditional grocery stores due to cosmetic imperfections, they tap into a compeltely overlooked supply.

Final thoughts 💭

Misfits Market seems to be on a good track. They have a lot of funding, and I mean a LOT. But their annual revenue looks good and I’m sure the acquisition had a great helping hand in boosting their numbers.

My favourite element of the business is the strategy of turning a completely unused supply and turning into a business, I think this is awesome. It’s a no-brainer for suppliers and they can sort of dictate their costs. I’m sure they’ll feel some pressure if bigger entities start catching on though. Something that’s potentially only a matter of time…

Stay quirky folks! 👋
Fin

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