FoodChain, an online marketplace connecting local food producers with wholesale purchasers, has been acquired by the Dohmen Company.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Co-founders Jake Levitt and Ben Winters launched the company in 2019. The startup entered the Discovery to Product (D2P) program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and participated in the region’s gBETA accelerator before taking the product to market, according to a press release from the university.
“The personalized mentorship provided by D20 and gBETA was so helpful in shaping FoodChain’s early success,” Winters said in the release. “The expert advice and connection we’ve gained through both programs has continued to be extremely valuable.”
FoodChain allows food producers to list, advertise and sell their products in an online market. Buyers are free to browse a selection of local food and have all of their products combined into a single purchase order.
The FoodChain platform essentially speeds the process of commercial exchange between local food producers and local food buyers, the Dohmen Company explained in a separate announcement.
“We know that the production and consumption of a fresh, healthful diet is the single most powerful intervention available to lower the skyrocketing rates of chronic disease in the United States,” said Cynthia LaConte, Dohmen Company CEO, of the acquisition. “We believe strongly that food also has the power to revitalize local economies. FoodChain is a great example of how new technology can support family farms and create regional self-reliance in food.”
Based in Milwaukee, the Dohmen Company is a philanthropic enterprise focused on improving health and social impact. It says it is the first company in the nation to transition from a family-owned S-corporation to a company wholly-owned by a private foundation.
"We started FoodChain because we saw the need to improve the accuracy, efficiency and scale of commercial transactions between the producers and purchasers of fresh, local food," Levitt said in the announcement. "Joining Dohmen gave us the opportunity to have an even greater impact by leveraging their years of supply chain experience within healthcare and by collaborating with their existing portfolio of social businesses."
