Glife raises seed funding to help remove middlemen between farmers and buyers

Glife, a Singapore-based startup that connects farmers with restaurants, announced today that it has raised S$1.6 million (US$1.18 million) in seed funding.

Investors include Global Founders Capital, 500 Startups, and angel investors like Royston Tay, co-founder of client chat software maker Zopim.

Photo credit: Unsplash

With the money, Glife will develop an invoicing system for restaurants to manage perishable goods, improve the traceability of produce from farmers, and pilot-test on-demand logistics technology for last-mile delivery fulfillment.

Quest Ventures invested in Glife’s pre-seed funding round. Since the startup’s May 2018 launch, 150 food and beverage businesses have signed on, drawn by the promise of streamlined agricultural supply chain processes and access to fresh produce from farmers at competitive prices.

“The food supply chain has been traditionally inefficient and long. Adopting a digital commerce platform for agricultural products will reduce friction and waste while delivering better margins to farmers, lower prices to restaurants, and create sustainable farming practices,” says Tito Costa, partner at Global Founders Capital.

“With the elimination of multiple middlemen, fair pricing is implemented, and we are better able to communicate a stable demand of produce to these farmers and increase their margins,” says Joe Chen, Glife’s chief operating officer.

The Glife founding team is made up of individuals with experience in F&B, supply chain, and food distribution.