A Spanish company that connects fresh produce buyers and sellers online has made inroads to the US marketplace through a merger with New York City-based Fruitspot.
Through a merger and a new version of its website, Freshdeal adds New York to its existing offices in Valencia (Spain) and Tauberbischofsheim (Germany), with a dedicated team of country managers and collaborators for the North and Latin America markets.
“We have designed Freshdeal to match the reliable buyers and sellers, so they can spend less time searching, discover more opportunities, and start conversations more easily.” says Freshdeal Co-CEO and CMO Jose Baptista.
“With this new release, we’re also placing critical importance on building trust and reputation – so our users can connect with confidence.”
The company said the online marketplace specialised in speed and availability, designed to save time and effort by breaking down the amount of information and forms to fill.
Freshdeal says it takes around two minutes to post produce items for sale on the platform, and contacts that match the requirements are then notified so a direct conversation can be initiated.
The group has connected 2,600 verified buyers and sellers through the platform already, and claims to have enabled more than US$54 million (£42 million) in new business for its users.
“With these features, we’ll be able to optimise the balance between supply and demand and we will receive updated information regarding the needs and searches of our users”, explains Freshdeal CEO José Manuel Donate.
Freshdeal has also been selected to be featured in TechCrunch Disrupt Startup Alley 2017 in San Francisco this September.
Reducing food waste
Freshdeal has partnered with the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), as part of a global network of organisations working to end food waste, which currently adds up to more than 45% of all fruit and vegetable production, and half of which is lost before even reaching consumers.
The UN has identified the platform as a solution to reduce food waste caused by market inefficiencies.
