ProducePay, the agtech company aiming to transform the global agricultural industry into a more predictable, connected, and sustainable supply chain, has partnered with MAVRK Capital to fund more Predictable Commerce Programs in fresh produce.

MAVRK Capital has agreed to a minimum commitment of $500 million in initial forward-flow capital to fund top growers globally. 

ProducePay’s Predictable Commerce Programs aim to help growers and marketers meet national retailers’ year-round demand for high-quality fresh produce with stable pricing while managing increasingly more volatile supply chains. 

Through this partnership, Four Star Fruit, Inc. will now be able to provide growers participating in Predictable Commerce Programs with a financing mechanism to grow their businesses while reducing risk, through the assurance of an off-taker with committed demand and pricing. This predictability reduces the risk associated with financing harvests, which in turn lowers the total cost of capital for the entire supply chain. 

“We’re singularly focused on identifying new ways to help growers and marketers expand while minimizing the uncertainty and volatility that has historically held the fresh produce industry back, ” said Patrick McCullough, CEO of ProducePay. “With the MAVRK Capital partnership, we’re unlocking industry-wide growth by offering farmers predictability in the form of capital, informed by decades of fresh produce experience, and with direct ties to buyer commitments.” 

The fresh produce farming cycle requires specialized finance solutions to account for the unique challenges of growing fresh produce: volatile pricing, economic cycles that stress banks leading to inconsistent lending, and traditional loans failing growers due to high leverage; all while rising interest rates and expenses continue to reduce profitability. 

Owned and operated by Four Star Fruit, Inc.– one of the world’s largest producers and marketers of table grapes – MAVRK Capital is uniquely positioned to fully understand the specific financing challenges of growers and marketers.

“We started MAVRK Capital to meet the unique capital needs of our fresh produce grower partners,” said Jack Campbell, CEO of Four Star Fruit. “After experiencing the impact of ProducePay’s Predictable Commerce Programs on creating global supply chains that meet year-round retail demand for high-quality produce, we’re expanding the fund to accelerate our ability to help farmers grow and thrive in this new model.” 

The new partnership comes on the heels of a record-breaking table grape partnership between ProducePay and Four Star Fruit. Over the 2023/24 season, ProducePay’s Table Grape Predictable Commerce Program successfully distributed over 26,000 tons of table grapes from Mexico, Chile, and Peru.

This was a 6X increase over the previous annual season, even after accounting for El Nino-related weather disruptions that battered the western U.S. and South America. This growth occurred all while reducing retailer rejections by more than 80%, and reducing days in transit by 30%, and time in cold storage by 40%. 

For retailers, this means consistent and reliable year-round supply of fresh produce, fewer rejections, and reduced food waste, ultimately contributing to a more efficient, profitable, and sustainable supply chain.