Invest in GrownBy

There's nothing more nourishing than eating food directly from a local farm. Food that is fresh, thoughtfully grown, cared for, and harvested by a local farmer has the power to heal us in so many ways. 

GrownBy is the farmer-owned marketplace for local food. We provide an easy way for any consumer to quickly find and buy locally grown products in their own community.

From CSA subscriptions of seasonal produce to cuts of heritage meats, cut flowers and artisanal cheeses, GrownBy puts the farmers market in your pocket to offer a vibrant and mouth watering array of inspiring food from across the US and Canada (NEW).

But our mission at GrownBy goes far deeper than making these foods available; we are a farmer-first platform to elevate and protect small farmers worldwide and we are leading the charge to bring farm food to more tables.

The US and other countries continue to lose farmers at an alarming rate, and just when the experiences of COVID have emphasized the critical nature of local farms to food security. We are determined to turn the tide.

By expanding sales and improving farm operations, GrownBy is helping farmers build successful and lasting businesses.

Why we're on Wefunder

GrownBy is a meaningful investment for anyone who cares about the future of food, the future of farming, and food security. We are fundraising on Wefunder because we believe that everyone has a stake in this future.

As we describe below, we are at a unique moment in the trajectory of our cooperative: doubling our growth; adding Canadian farms; and opening up new wholesale and retail opportunities for our farmers. We are seeking investment to improve our product; bring these essential services to farmers and shoppers; and get our company to profitability.

As we are an agricultural cooperative, this social investment works a little differently: financial returns for our investors are facilitated by annual profit distributions and the eventual repurchase of outstanding shares by our cooperative. Based on current sales growth and projections, we expect organic growth in business activity to lead to profitability in 18-24 months. Investor returns do not rely on any hypothetical acquisition event; our intention is to be a long-term partner for the farm community.

Future projections are not guaranteed.

Once you’ve tasted an heirloom tomato straight off the vine or ground beef from happy pasture-raised cows, the grocery store alternative can't compare.

GrownBy makes it possible for everyone to eat local. With one account, shoppers can support multiple local farmers in your area. Join a CSA, subscribe for the season, or buy items a la carte. It's like having the farmers market in your pocket!

As consumers demand more transparency, sustainability, and quality in their food, GrownBy provides a more direct connection to the people who grow it.

Sharing the harvest

Making local food available is on the beginning of making local food accessible to all.

Many families struggle to afford groceries, and locally grown food may be out of reach. GrownBy is currently the e-comm platform that assists farmers through the certification process to accept  SNAP/EBT benefits online, for free, because it shouldn’t be a burden on the farm to ensure their fresh, whole foods are accessible to families who need it most.

Through a unique partnership with the US Department of Agriculture, we’ve revolutionized the process for small farmers to expand their customer base through SNAP and make farm fresh food more affordable to more people.

To date, we’ve helped over 60 farms accept SNAP Online payments directly on GrownBy. By partnering with non-profit organizations, GrownBy has made it possible for SNAP shoppers to take advantage of "double-up" programs provide steep discounts on fresh fruits and vegetables on the app.

GrownBy serves farmers in the US and Canada

Led by co-founders with deep farm and tech experience, and fueled by the support of 38 cooperative member-owners and farmer-sellers from across the US and Canada, GrownBy is on a path to bring fair and sustainable farm food to every home.

Where our farmers are located

Since our launch, over 900 farms have registered on GrownBy and 23,000 shoppers have made purchases on the app. In 2024 alone, our farmers delivered local food 90,000 times.

Shopping on GrownBy keeps small farmers in business

Buying food on GrownBy, direct from the farm, keeps growers in business. When shoppers buy food at a grocery store, farmers typically take home just 17 cents on the dollar. But on GrownBy, farmers keep at least 95% of every sale. 

How do we do this? GrownBy is not a resale site. Our farmers have complete control over their products and pricing. We charge minimal processing and co-op fees, and over 60% of these fees are covered by the customer. 

The tech cooperative for farmers

GrownBy is uniquely positioned as a long-term partner for the agricultural community. As a cooperative, farmers can become a member-owner after their first sale.

Co-founders Lindsey Lusher Shute and Mike Parker pursued the cooperative model after seeing one tech company after another fail farmers. From doubling prices overnight, new spinoff companies competing with small farmer to lagging updates and innovation, Mike and Lindsey were motivated to find a new way to get their farm products to consumers.

The Cooperative now has 38 member-owners and offers a share of the company to employees. Member-owners participate in the board of directors and in critical company changes.

A full stack for a complex small business

Beyond our consumer-facing marketplace available on desktop and mobile app, GrownBy’s unique stack of software tools are designed to optimize and simplify small farm operations.

Our farmer-designed tools include customer management, invoice management, product inventories, and more. 

We are continually adding and enhancing our features to help farmers sell more, more sustainably, and aim to launch a wholesale platform and integrate a POS system by the end of 2025. 

Training farmers on sales and marketing

Many of the farmers on GrownBy are young farmers, and many are new to online sales. That's where our sales and support team, all of whom bring deep farm experience to the table, truly shines.

In addition to one-on-one support, our team attends conferences; hosts regular educational webinars; produces e-books and fosters collaboration among farmers to help them succeed on GrownBy.

Driving innovation, almost as quickly as our growers

Farmers are no stranger to innovation. At the forefront of climate change and shifting market, they bring creativity to their business models and production techniques.

On GrownBy, we aim to help these entrepreneurs accelerate innovation through our software. GrownBy was recognized for our work as the winner of the Small Farm Innovation Challenge (Software) in 2023.

Most recently, GrownBy incorporated an AI-driven feature to match consumer preferences with a weekly CSA share box. This feature improves farm customer satisfaction and increases overall sales to participating farms.

Where new investment will take us: Wholesale & Farmers Markets

Our investment dollars will be put towards bringing two critical roadmap features to market: a wholesale marketplace and a point-of-sale app for GrownBy sellers.

In 2024, with guidance from the Culinary Institute of America, GrownBy developed an invite-only wholesale marketplace for our farmers. This marketplace was built with chefs, institutions, retailers and schools in mind. And now, this spring, we are developing a point-of-sale terminal for our growers to use at market.

With these new features, Grownby will expand our market potential and we will support our farmers with features that will simplify their operations and increase their sales.