Misfits Market, the "ugly" fruit and vegetable e-commerce company, announced that it has raised $85 million in a Series B financing round led by Valor Equity Partners, bringing the fast-growing startup's total raised to $101.5 million.
The company's message is taking off as more customers shift to online grocery shopping, and consumers look for more eco-friendly — and wallet-friendly — options. "In a nutshell, we rescue food that would otherwise go to waste in the food system," said founder and CEO Abhi Ramesh in an interview with Cheddar. "We deliver those items to consumers' doorsteps at a substantial discount from retail prices, generally 30-50 percent cheaper than the grocery store."
The company started off in 2018 by delivering subscription boxes of "ugly" produce — think misshapen vegetables and slightly bruised fruits. Since then, they've expanded their product offerings and look to continue that expansion with this new influx of capital. The company now "rescues" food items like coffee, chocolate, herbs, lentils, spices, sauces, and grains. These items might not be ugly in the traditional sense, but if they cannot be sold through traditional channels, Misfits buys them at a discount.
For example, Ramesh talked about an olive oil company that they had worked with. The manufacturer had printed the labels on the olive oil bottles backward. Misfits Markets customers were able to score these bottles at a discounted price, but not a discounted taste.
Misfits said it has seen a huge spike in its customer base amid the coronavirus pandemic. In the first quarter of 2020, the number of subscribers almost tripled. The company scaled its warehouses and pack centers to meet the demand and hired an additional 400 people in their New Jersey headquarters.
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
William Falcon, CEO and Founder of Lightning AI, discusses the ongoing feud between Elon Musk and Sam Altman, and how everyday people can use AI in their lives.
