Thanks for joining us again as we highlight a handful of startups looking to make it big. Not-so-fun fact: Nine in 10 startups fail, according to policy advisory and research firm Startup Genome. Here’s why these three believe they’re in the 10% that make it.
Time to show off: DTC period care startup August has had a busy 2023, which continued last week with the hiring of its first VP of marketing. The company bills itself as a gender-inclusive and sustainable period care brand and has brought on Diane Lewis to expand August’s retail channels and presence.
- Lewis has experience operating retail marketing for legacy and startup personal care companies, including Evereden, La Roche-Posay, and Aveeno.
- Earlier this year, August started placing its products on Target’s store shelves. With Lewis in the fold, August plans to do more of the same for the rest of the year, expanding its distribution in retail.
“We launched August at a time when people were realizing that the classic direct-to-consumer business model of relying on paid acquisition wasn’t creating sustainable businesses, and venture capital money was beginning to prioritize organic growth and profitability, two trends which are only more true today,” Nick Jain, co-founder of August, said in a statement.
In the wild: Foraged is a wild- and specialty-foods marketplace that recently raised $2.7 million to help expand and scale its operations. Foraged describes its business model as a way for smaller sellers and producers of rare foods to gain access to a wider clientele.
- The company sees an opportunity to tap a growing market as a response to increased food prices and supply chain issues. In 2022, analysis from Grandview Research found that the worldwide mushroom market is poised to hit $115.8 billion by 2030.
- People who sell produce at their local farmers’ markets may now have the opportunity to capture a wider customer base by using Foraged, the company said.
Pack it up: Saltbox is essentially WeWork but for warehouses. The logistics and fulfillment company operates 12 co-warehousing locations small businesses and e-commerce companies use for their own fulfillment services. Saltbox recently closed a $35 million Series B. .
- Almost three-quarters of Saltbox’s user base is comprised of DTC e-commerce businesses. .
- CEO and co-founder Tyler Scriven said in a statement that “Shopify’s decision to ‘throw in the towel’ on fulfillment is significant, and reflects the inherent challenge of approaching small and medium-sized e-commerce logistics.”