US: Lewis & Clark AgriFood and Continental Grain Ventures lead $47m Series C round for Bushel

The agtech company says $22 billion of grain is contracted annually within Bushel’s ecosystem

Agtech company Bushel has raised $47 million in its Series C investment round. The oversubscribed round was led by Lewis & Clark AgriFood and Continental Grain Ventures. Bushel is a provider of software technology solutions for growers, grain buyers, ag retailers, protein producers and food companies.

Current grain data-sharing processes are manual and fragmented, resulting in lost productivity and revenue potential. Bushel’s technologies aim to solve some of the industry’s biggest challenges and bring the grain supply chain together through connected, standardised and properly-permissioned data.

Bushel claims its platform now reaches 40% of grain origination in the US, resulting in inarguably the largest technology network effect among growers and grain buyers in the US. The company said $22 billion of grain is contracted annually within its ecosystem.

Participation from new and existing investors include Cargill, Scoular, Germin8 Ventures and others. In addition, Consolidated Grain and Barge Co. is expected to close their investment in the round in the coming weeks.

The cash injection and continued partnership of the syndicate will allow Bushel to introduce payments, credit, trading offerings and increased data services, including capabilities to help consumer brands sustainably source commodities in the global grain supply chain.

The funding will also accelerate Bushel’s current product offerings that currently deliver value to growers, commodity buyers, ag retailers and CPG companies.

“We are excited to invest further into Bushel alongside some of our high-value partners like Cargill and Scoular,” said Chris Abbott, co-head of Continental Grain Ventures. “Bushel is one of the leading independent software companies in agriculture, and serves as the critical link connecting growers to grain buyers, processors, brands and consumers. This funding accelerates deployment of new offerings and embedded capabilities throughout the food and ag value chain. We believe it results in better outcomes for growers and the supply chain.”

Bushel’s platform integrates into multiple grain accounting systems, trading desks, farm management systems, insurance companies and market feeds to allow different software systems to work with each other.

“As a food and agriculture specialist investors, we see Bushel as the leader in connecting disparate data systems in the ‘messy middle’ of the food and agriculture supply chain,” said Larry Page, managing director of Lewis & Clark Agrifood. “Digital innovation has landed on the farm, but few companies are focused on the digital side of agriculture (or lack thereof) from the farm gate and beyond. We hear so much noise in the space with very little real traction. As Bushel has consistently gained market share, it has become clear that the ability to connect data with physical grain has significant value for many stakeholders in our food system.”

Bushel’s collaborative ethos will continue to accelerate adding new participants throughout the value chain, particularly CPGs and consumer brands, that will benefit from upstream and midstream data insights and help deliver on sustainability promises.

“Bushel is here to win for our customers and their growers,” said Jake Joraanstad, co-founder and chief executive of Bushel. “We serve as the independent integration hub that saves businesses significant manual effort, time and expense, while also strengthening the relationships between growers and agribusinesses through secure, proven and easy to use software products and services.”

The company said 60,000 growers use its products and services monthly and nearly 2,000 grain buying locations across the US and Canada trust Bushel to power their grower-facing and internal software products.

In addition to its investment, Cargill has committed to using the Bushel platform to power select internal and external digital tools. Scoular has been using the Bushel platform since 2018. Consolidated Grain and Barge Co. is currently exploring opportunities for utilisation of Bushel’s suite of services.

Bushel’s product suite includes its flagship mobile app, websites, trading tools, market feeds, API services and a custom software division focused on agriculture. Bushel has been focused on building software since the company was founded in 2011.