Chicago smart food producer closes $30 million funding round

A Chicago-based producer of healthy food for vending machines closed a Series-C funding round with a whopping $30 million from more than half a dozen investors. Farmer’s Fridge officials have said they want to use the increased investment to expand through other parts of the Midwest, like St. Louis, Detroit, Indianapolis, and Cincinnati, according to Finsmes. The startup also aims to hire 200 new employees by the end of 2019. The latest investment round was led by Innovaton Endeavors. After being founded in 2013, Farmer’s Fridge has built up hundreds of “smart fridges” around Chicago and Milwaukee that supply locally sourced foods like salads and snacks. Most of the vending machines are set up in locations with a lot of public foot traffic such as airports, hospitals and stores. Farmer’s Fridge comes along with an accompanying app as well that allows users to see a map of the nearest fridges. CEO Luke Sanders told the Chicago Tribune that the company is selling nearly 15,000 meals per day now. With recently installed touch-screen technology on their fridges, Farmer’s Fridge is trending in the right direction in terms of advancing their services. For that reason, and a focus on supplying healthy foods, investors said they were attracted to the up-and-coming Chicago startup. “We’re excited to partner with the visionary team at Farmer’s Fridge to help them build a world-changing platform and improve health through food,” said an Innovation Endeavors founder in a written statement.