On Tuesday, e-commerce grocery platform GrubMarket announced that it acquired Chicago-based Nova Libra for an undisclosed amount.
Nova Libra has been in the software industry for more than 23 years and mainly focuses on building e-commerce applications and vendor portals for business. The tech company uses AI and machine learning to create software tailored to customers’ specific needs.
“The pandemic has also accelerated adoption of digital transformation practices across all industries, especially in the food supply chain space. We’re excited for Nova Libra to join the GrubMarket family, to bring their high-quality and reliable e-commerce development talent to our ecosystem,” GrubMarket CEO Mike Xu said in a statement. “This acquisition enables us to further strengthen our e-commerce and software development capabilities for our software customers.”
For the past few months, supply chain issues have disrupted the distribution of groceries across the country and left stores with empty shelves. As an online grocery distributor, San Fransico-based GrubMarket doesn’t have to worry about empty shelves, however, sourcing food can still be a problem.
That’s where Nova Libra comes in. With the acquisition, the company will focus on ramping up GrubMarket’s supply chain software to deal with the current strain facing the country.
“We are thrilled to learn that GrubMarket shares the same goals and has built out such a well-integrated and much-needed software solution to enable more streamlined e-commerce for the food supply chain industry,” Tom Greenhaw, president of Nova Libra, said in a statement. “The mission to provide high quality, nutritious food to all market segments, especially those that are underserved, is a truly meaningful endeavor.”
GrubMarket was founded in 2014 and rose in popularity for sourcing organic foods directly from producers and selling and distributing them to businesses and customers at lower prices than other suppliers. Funding came steadily following the company’s launch, with investment coming in anywhere between $2 million and $32 million the first few years.
In 2020 investments skyrocketed. That year, GrubMarket secured $90 million in a Series D round. And in 2021, the company closed a $145 million Series E round in October and a $200 million round less than a month later. In total, it has raised $527 million since its launch, according to Crunchbase.
GrubMarket has used some of this capital to acquire at least 40 companies over the past three years, according to TechCrunch. The companies acquired cover a variety of industries, ranging from software and logistics to transportation.
