[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
WI Harper Group | April 12, 2022 | Source: PR Newswire (Regatta) / PR Newswire (SunFed)
GrubMarket completed the acquisitions of: Regatta Tropicals, a fresh fruit company that operates in New Jersey and California; in addition to SunFed, a tech-driven fresh produce company that operates in Arizona and Texas. Regatta Tropicals is one of the top suppliers of kiwifruit, persimmons and figs in the U.S and Canada, while SunFed is one of the top importers of squashes. GrubMarket has snapped up no less than 40 companies in the last four years. While some of these have been to help it expand geographically (it made 10 acquisitions in the Los Angeles area alone), many have also been made to double down on technology. In September 2021, GrubMarket raised $120 million at a $1B+ pre-money valuation in a Series E round of funding. The funding came from a wide mix of new investors: Liberty Street Funds, Walleye Capital, Japan Post Capital, Joseph Stone Capital, Pegasus Tech Ventures, Tech Pioneers Fund; along with existing investors: Celtic House Asia Partners, INP Capital, Reimagined Ventures, Moringa Capital Management, and others unnamed participants. WI Harper Group previously participated in GrubMarket’s oversubscribed $90 million Series D financing in October 2020 and led its $25 million C+ round of financing in April 2019.
Regatta Tropicals was founded in 1992 as an offshoot company called Coast-to-Coast Produce. Regatta Tropicals is run by its original owner Steve Matych and his wife Teresa Barnes-Matych. Regatta Tropicals is a full-service produce distribution and wholesale business with freezer and cold storage facilities that cover over 60,000 square feet in space and sophisticated repacking operations in Vineland, New Jersey and Reedley, California. Regatta employs nearly 200 people across its operations. Regatta is considered one of the largest volume marketers of Fuyu and Hachiya persimmons in California and also owns 60 acres of land in Maricopa, Arizona, where it grows its famous Black Mission figs. After the acquisition, the business will continue to be managed by its current experienced and mission-driven leadership team.
SunFed was founded nearly 30 years ago by original owners Warren Mizokami and Danny Mandel. SunFed is now run by Craig Slate, who became CEO in 2017. SunFed is a full-service food distribution and wholesale business with a 65,000 square feet warehouse and state-of-the-art processing facilities. SunFed’s warehouses have photovoltaic solar panels, which offset 85% of the total energy consumption. In addition, SunFed adopted other sustainability initiatives such as using modified atmosphere and humidity packaging to extend shelf life, launching organic-certified programs, and introducing their “Almost Famous” brand that repurposes and resells cosmetically imperfect produce to reduce food waste. After the acquisition, the business will continue to be managed by its current experienced and mission-driven leadership team.
As a part of GrubMarket’s portfolio, Regatta Tropicals and SunFed will now utilize GrubMarket’s innovative and proprietary WholesaleWare software suite. This is the company’s software-as-a-service platform that provides food industry wholesalers and distributors with seamless financial management, easy-to-use mobile and online ordering features, precise inventory management, lot traceability and tracking, grower accounting, and automated routing and logistics tools.
| About WI Harper Group
WI Harper is a pioneer and leading cross-border venture capital firm investing in early and expansion stage companies globally. With offices in San Francisco, Beijing, and Taipei, the firm actively oversees more than $1 billion in assets under management. Since inception nearly three decades ago, WI Harper has invested in over 400 startups and has successfully experienced more than 100 IPO and M&A exits.
We look for innovative companies and visionary founders in healthcare, technology and sustainability fields where there are high synergies and meaningful value added cross selling opportunities. While our healthcare team is presently honing on bioinformatics and digital biology, our technology team is focused blockchain, big data, analytics, artificial intelligence, AR/VR, IoT, robotics, drones, autonomous driving, as well as digital media and green energy projects.
[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
