Forage
Forage enables grocers, convenience retailers, and delivery apps to accept SNAP EBT payments, unlocking grocery savings for shoppers.
- Business Profile
- Founders & Team5 sources scanned
- Market Size11 sources scanned
- Competitor Research5 sources scanned
- Funding7 sources scanned
- Momentum3 sources scanned
- Customer Sentiment3 sources scanned
- AI Visibility
- Risks & Red Flagspublic record checked
Summary
Worth a closer lookForage is a focused fintech that enables grocers, convenience stores and delivery apps to accept SNAP/EBT payments — a narrow payments wedge into a defined $99.8B FY2024 SNAP redemption pool. The company has moved beyond concept: YC (2021), a Series A (~$22.5M led by Nyca in Aug 2022) and a $40M Series B on June 3, 2026 (total disclosed funding ~$62.5M) underpin recent distribution partnerships with Adyen, FreshDirect, Uber Eats/Save A Lot and Gopuff, and disclosed revenue of ~$6.9M. That combination signals product-market fit with platform channels rather than going head-to-head as a POS incumbent, but the key tension is whether merchant economics, retention and partner concentration can scale from a ~$6.9M base toward the addressable SAM (~$2.03B merchant-processing at a 3.5% take rate across 162,686 target stores). First meeting should rapidly test unit economics, partnership economics (revenue share / exclusivity) and top-customer concentration as the make-or-break for go-big scaling.
Bull case
- Closed a $40M Series B on 2026-06-03, bringing total disclosed funding to ~$62.5M (pre-Seed, YC ’21, Series A ~ $22.5M led by Nyca Partners), indicating investor conviction and runway to scale distribution.
- Established distribution and payments partnerships with recognizable platforms — Adyen, FreshDirect, Uber Eats/Save A Lot and Gopuff — which provide fast routes to reach grocery and convenience endpoints.
- Clear addressable market: USDA SNAP redemptions of USD 99.8B (FY2024) and a bottom-up SAM focused on 162,686 independent grocery + convenience stores implies a merchant-processing opportunity (~USD 2.03B at a 3.5% rate).
- Early commercial traction evidenced by disclosed revenue of ~$6.9M and a team of 52 headcount with named founders (Ofek Lavian, Victor Esteban Fimbres) signaling an operating organization beyond prototype.
Watch-outs
- No third-party customer reviews or visible customer sentiment in public sources — merchant satisfaction, onboarding friction and retention are unknown.
- Unit economics and revenue concentration are undisclosed: ~$6.9M revenue exists, but CAC, LTV, payback and top-customer share (especially across partners like Uber/Gopuff) are not public.
- Competitive landscape and incumbent payment processors for SNAP/EBT were not surfaced in the materials; market incumbents could be better funded or embedded in merchant POS stacks.
- Growth appears channel-dependent — heavy reliance on distribution partnerships (Adyen, delivery platforms) creates concentration risk if terms change or exclusivity is limited.
Questions for the founder
- 1What is current ARR and growth rate since the reported ~$6.9M in revenue?
- 2Provide merchant unit economics: CAC, LTV, gross margin on processing, and payback period.
- 3What percent of revenue is attributable to top 3 partners/customers and are there written exclusivity or minimum commitments?
- 4Describe technical defensibility: proprietary integrations, fraud/compliance tooling for SNAP EBT, and how hard it is for a competitor to replicate.
- 5How will the $40M Series B be allocated across GTM, engineering, and compliance — and what runway/targets does it fund?
Company profile
Customers on site
Fees & commissions
Transaction-based: Standard — 3.5% + $0.30 processing fee per transaction (pay-as-you-go); no setup or hidden fees. Custom & POS: volume pricing discounts and bespoke packages for large/high-volume merchants — contact sales for pricing.
Target segments
Key features
- Online EBT Payment Processing
API and SDKs to accept SNAP EBT payments on web and mobile checkout
- In-Store EBT Payments (POS)
Point-of-sale integrations enabling SNAP EBT and EBT Cash acceptance in stores
- Forage Mobile App
App for SNAP recipients to check EBT balances, track receipts, earn rewards, and get EBT updates
Stats they publish
Testimonials
“At Uber, we believe healthy foods should be accessible to all. We are excited to partner with Forage to provide our customers the same seamless experience they've become accustomed to on Uber when using their SNAP benefits.”
Karl Hebert · Vice President of Payments, Risk, and Identity“Our partnership with Forage supports our commitment to increase access to food for vulnerable communities. Growing the acceptance of SNAP/EBT payments on DoorDash can help families meet childcare and work obligations, relieve seniors of the potential stress of going to the grocery store, and support people with disabilities who face mobility issues. We're thrilled to further broaden access to food with on-demand delivery via DoorDash.”
Fuad Hannon · VP of New Verticals“We handpicked Forage as our payment processor for their exclusive USDA approval and strong integration capabilities. Their seasoned team, specializing in government payments, played a pivotal role in our effort to become the first online-only retailer to accept SNAP EBT.”
Sasha Siddhartha · Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer“It is critical to our mission that our app is available and accessible to as many people as possible. Our friends at Forage have helped enable EBT, which ultimately expands families' food budgets as wide as possible. Together, this can make a real difference in the lives of our shoppers.”
Nicholas Bertram · CEO & President“When choosing who to work with to enable EBT online, it was an easy decision. WIth Forage, you get superior technology, USDA approval knowledge, and a streamlined process for onboarding new merchants. Forage is the only player in the space that has a scalable solution.”
Rahul Chabukswar · Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Social accounts
Compliance & certifications
Founders & Team
3- Ofek LavianFounderCo-founder & CEO
- Victor Esteban FimbresCTO
- Mindy FarnsworthPeople Operations Lead
Forage publicly names Ofek Lavian as a co-founder and CEO. Company listings and career pages also show Victor Esteban Fimbres as CTO and Mindy Farnsworth as People Operations Lead, but the site explicitly designates only Lavian as a co-founder in newsroom copy.
- Company newsroom explicitly identifies Ofek Lavian as a co-founder; other founder attributions in aggregator profiles (Crunchbase, Built In) were not treated as authoritative for is_founder=true.
- Some extracted name/role lines (Victor Esteban Fimbres, Mindy Farnsworth) come from company career/listing snippets in the provided text; the source text fragments were partially scraped/fragmented and do not include full bio sentences.
- This list is limited to people explicitly named in the provided material and may omit additional founders or leaders not present or clearly attributed in those snippets.
Market Size
TAM: the upper-bound transaction pool Forage can address is the US SNAP benefit redemptions—USD 99.8B in FY2024 (USDA ERS). SAM (bottom-up): focusing on Forage’s primary target (independent grocery + convenience stores, 162,686 locations) and applying Forage’s 3.5% merchant rate to a simple per-store share of SNAP redemptions yields ≈ USD 2.03B of annual merchant-processing revenue. SOM (scenario): anchored to disclosed revenue (~USD 6.9M) and a Series A ($22M), a plausible near-term obtainable outcome is ~0.5% of that SAM (≈ USD 10.1M in annual revenue within a few years); this is a scenario, not a forecast.
- USDA, Economic Research Service (ERS) ↗Federal SNAP spending totaled $99.8 billion (FY 2024) · United States
- Total annual SNAP redemptions (used as upper-bound transaction pool)USD 99.8 billion (FY2024)USDA ERS — https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap/key-statistics-and-research
- Total US grocery stores (all formats, 2026)128,207 grocery storesrentechdigital list of grocery stores — https://rentechdigital.com/smartscraper/business-report-details/list-of-grocery-stores-in-united-states
- Total US convenience stores (2026)151,975 convenience storesNACS U.S. Convenience Store Count — https://www.convenience.org/storecount
- Serviceable store count for SAM (Forage's primary focus = independents)Single-owner / single-store operators: 67,014 grocery + 95,672 convenience = 162,686 storesrentechdigital (grocery single-owner count) and NACS (convenience single-store operators) — see sources above
- Per-store average annual SNAP volume (used to estimate ACV)Assumed equal-split: USD 99.8B / (128,207 + 151,975 = 280,182 stores) ≈ USD 356,187 annual SNAP redemptions per store (simple average across grocery + convenience)Calculated from USDA ERS $99.8B and published store counts (rentechdigital + NACS).
- Forage pricing (merchant-facing rate used to compute ACV)3.5% + $0.30 per transaction (use 3.5% as primary revenue basis; per-transaction fixed fee omitted from core ACV due to no published tx-counts)Target company pricing (provided): Standard: 3.5% + $0.30 processing fee
- ACV per independent store (approximate)3.5% × USD 356,187 ≈ USD 12,466 annual revenue per storeCalculation using average per-store SNAP volume (see assumptions) × Forage rate.
- SAM calculation162,686 independent stores × USD 12,466 ≈ USD 2.028BMultiplication of independent-store count (see assumption) × ACV per store (see assumption)
- Current disclosed Forage revenue (anchor for SOM)Estimated annual revenue USD 6.9M (recent estimate)Extruct.ai company profile — https://www.extruct.ai/hub/joinforage-com-funding/
- Funding / scale signal used to justify SOM scenarioSeries A USD 22M (Aug 8, 2022); company size 51–200 employees; site traffic ~23,500 visits/monthWellfound / Crunchbase / parsers.vc — https://wellfound.com/company/joinforage/funding?roles=operations ; https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/forage/company_financials ; https://parsers.vc/startup/joinforage.com/
- SOM share assumption (3-year scenario)0.5% of SAM (selected because current revenue implies ~0.34% of SAM and Series A + team size make modest expansion to ~0.5% plausible within a multi-year horizon)Anchored to disclosed revenue (USD 6.9M) and Series A USD 22M; rationale described in SOM basis above.
- TAM uses total SNAP benefit redemptions (USD 99.8B) as an upper-bound transaction pool; that figure is NOT a published software/payment-processing market size and is materially broader than the software/payments revenue pool Forage can capture—used here because no published SNAP-specific payments/processor TAM was available in the provided research.
- SAM is a simplified bottom-up that (a) evenly distributes SNAP redemptions across grocery + convenience locations and (b) restricts to single-owner operators; in reality SNAP redemptions concentrate at larger supermarkets, supercenters, pharmacies and other retailer types and acceptance rates vary by merchant type—both factors would materially change per-store ACV.
- Per-transaction fixed fees ($0.30) were omitted from ACV because reliable per-store transaction counts were not available; including fixed fees would raise ACV if average transaction counts are known.
- Delivery apps and other retail channels (supercenters, pharmacies, farmers' markets) were not fully modeled in the SAM; including large supermarket chains or delivery platforms would increase the SAM but require chain-level adoption and different sales motion assumptions.
- SOM is a scenario tied to current disclosed revenue and funding signals; it is low-confidence and intended to show plausibility not to predict precise outcomes.
Competitors
No clear competitors found for this company.
Funding
- Pre-SeedJune 22, 2020CB Insights ↗
- Accelerator (Y Combinator)June 2021Y CombinatorDealroom ↗
- Series A$22.5MAugust 8, 2022Nyca Partners leadApoorva MehtaEqual Opportunity VenturesFISMucker CapitalPayPal VenturesY CombinatorCB Insights ↗
- Series B$40M2026-06-03FJ Labs leadIntuit Ventures leadLong Journey Ventures leadCrunchbase ↗
Public records show a Pre-Seed on June 22, 2020 (amount undisclosed), participation in Y Combinator in June 2021, a Series A in August 2022 (~$22.5M led by Nyca Partners) and a Crunchbase-listed Series B on 2026-06-03 for $40M. The itemized rounds sum to at least $62.5M.
- The Series B ($40M, 2026-06-03) is present only in the Crunchbase structured block in the provided material; independent press corroboration was not included in the corpus.
- The Series A amount is reported inconsistently: company press release states $22M (self-reported), CB Insights reports $22.5M and other snippets mention ~$22.63M. CB Insights was used for the Series A line-item here.
- Pre-Seed (June 22, 2020) is recorded by CB Insights with no amount or investor names disclosed.
- Y Combinator participation (June 2021) is reported; the typical $125,000 YC deal is described as 'typical' in Dealroom and is not confirmation that that exact amount was received by Forage.
- Crunchbase references indicate a total number of rounds (and additional investors) beyond those itemized here; the itemized rounds therefore represent a floor and public reporting may omit earlier or undisclosed financings.
Momentum
- FundingJune 3, 2026Closed a $40M Series B led by FJ Labs, Intuit Ventures and Long Journey VenturesCrunchbase ↗
- PartnershipApril 13, 2026Partnered with FreshDirect to enable online SNAP EBT payments for New YorkersForage Newsroom (joinforage.com)
- PartnershipJanuary 20, 2026Partnered with Adyen to power SNAP EBT payments for Adyen merchants in the U.S.PR Newswire / Forage Newsroom
- AwardDecember 2, 2025Named to Inc.'s 2025 Best in Business list (Best Social Good)Forage Newsroom (joinforage.com)
- LaunchNovember 20, 2025Launched Save A Lot’s SNAP EBT delivery on Uber Eats at participating locationsForage Newsroom (joinforage.com)
- PartnershipNovember 19, 2025Supported Gopuff in launching FSA and HSA paymentsForage Newsroom (joinforage.com)
- PartnershipOctober 30, 2025Collaborated with Zip to offer temporary no-fee installment options during a government shutdownPR Newswire / Forage Newsroom
- PartnershipJuly 17, 2025Supported Uber in onboarding new retailers to its SNAP EBT programForage Newsroom (joinforage.com)
- PartnershipJuly 17, 2025Assisted Gopuff in expanding EBT payment options on its platformForage Newsroom (joinforage.com)
- FundingAugust 8, 2022Raised $22.5M Series A (Nyca Partners, PayPal Ventures and others)CB Insights / Forage Newsroom ↗
- FundingJune 2021Participated in Y Combinator accelerator (YC S21)Dealroom ↗
- FundingJune 22, 2020Closed Pre‑Seed roundCB Insights ↗
Forage shows accelerating momentum: it closed a $40M Series B on June 3, 2026 and over 2025–2026 announced multiple distribution and payments partnerships (Adyen, FreshDirect, Uber Eats/Save A Lot, Gopuff) and received industry recognition.
- Most non-funding items are reported via Forage's newsroom or PR channels; several items lack independent third‑party URLs in the provided text.
- Funding dates and investor lists come from CB Insights and Crunchbase entries in the supplied material; company profiles and third‑party databases can have slight discrepancies.
- The company name 'Forage' appears in multiple datasets; events included here are those that explicitly reference the joinforage.com product or SNAP EBT activity.
Customer Sentiment
No third-party customer reviews or aggregate ratings are present in the available external materials; the visible pages are company profiles (Crunchbase, F4 Fund, Built In) rather than customer review platforms. Public customer sentiment cannot be judged from the available sources.
No customer reviews, user ratings, or review-platform pages (Trustpilot, G2, Capterra, app stores, etc.) were present in the available external materials; sources are company profiles and employer/job sites.
Crunchbase/F4/Built In entries summarize company facts and funding/employment details but do not contain independent customer feedback.
Possible customer reviews may exist on other platforms or behind paywalls, but they were not available in the materials reviewed here.
AI Visibility
We ask ChatGPT WITH web search about the company and show its answers plus the sources it cited — the real AI-search experience. The key signal is share of voice: does the company come up when AI is asked about its space, not just when asked by name.
Models asked ChatGPT · web search
Accuracy of what AI said: Accurate — Correctly identifies JoinForage (Forage) as a San Francisco payments startup focused on enabling SNAP/EBT acceptance and reports funding and employee figures consistent with cited public sources.
Forage, accessible at joinforage.com, is a mission-driven payments company founded in 2020 and headquartered in San Francisco, California. The company focuses on enabling merchants to accept government benefits, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT), through a unified API. This initiative aims to increase access to food for the over 42 million Americans who rely on government assistance for groceries. (builtinsf.com)
As of recent reports, Forage has approximately 52 employees. (builtinsf.com) The company has raised a total of $22.63 million in funding, with its last funding round being a Series A of $22.5 million. (cbinsights.com)
Forage's mission is to democratize access to government benefits by building financial and technological infrastructure that connects merchants, shoppers, and the U.S. government. Their services include facilitating online EBT payments for retailers and providing a mobile app that helps SNAP EBT users check their balances and earn rewards on grocery purchases. (joinforage.com)
The company's core values emphasize a mission-first approach, ownership, collaboration, and a long-term commitment to improving access to food for families in need. (joinforage.com)
Notably, Forage has been featured by various investors and has partnered with top grocery retailers and delivery platforms to share savings and offers with EBT SNAP cardholders. (joinforage.com)
In summary, Forage is a growing fintech company dedicated to enhancing the accessibility of government food assistance programs through innovative payment solutions and partnerships with merchants and delivery platforms.
Here are some notable companies and products in the SNAP EBT payments space:
- Gopuff: First instant commerce company to accept SNAP EBT payments nationwide, offering rapid delivery of eligible items. (businesswire.com)
- Instacart: Expanded EBT SNAP payments to over 40 retailers, enabling online grocery shopping for SNAP recipients. (techcrunch.com)
- DoorDash: Launched SNAP/EBT online payments with partners like ALDI, Albertsons, Safeway, Meijer, and 7-Eleven, covering over 4,000 locations. (about.doordash.com)
- Albertsons Companies: Integrated SNAP EBT payments at nearly 200 Drive Up & Go locations, enhancing accessibility for SNAP users. (globenewswire.com)
- Thrive Market: Became the first online-only grocer to accept SNAP EBT, expanding access to healthy foods for SNAP participants. (en.wikipedia.org)
Several companies specialize in providing SNAP EBT payment processing solutions for retailers. Here are some notable providers:
[Elite Bankcard Solutions](http://www.elitebankcardsolutions.com/) Open now · Business to business service · 5.0 (3 reviews) _4578 Feather River Dr B, Stockton, CA 95219_ Provides EMV-ready terminals for EBT/SNAP, credit, and debit card processing, assisting merchants with application and permit processes to start accepting EBT payments swiftly.
[forageSF](http://foragesf.com/) Closed · Tour operator · 4.6 (9 reviews) _1473 Oak St #7, San Francisco, CA 94117_ A mission-driven payments company enabling SNAP EBT for merchants, providing API and SDK integrations for seamless checkout experiences. Partnered with Adyen to expand EBT acceptance.
[Pay Now Direct](http://www.paynowdirect.com/) Open now · Software company · 4.5 (2 reviews) _17200 Foothill Blvd, Castro Valley, CA 94546_ Offers a unified platform integrating POS systems and websites, enabling retailers to accept SNAP EBT payments both online and in-store, with a focus on small and medium food retailers.
[Solutran](https://www.solutran.com) Closed · Marketing · 1.0 (4 reviews) _13305 12th Ave N, Minneapolis, MN 55441_ A leading national payments processor with state-of-the-art EBT technology, having processed over $1 billion in EBT transactions across various programs.
[Constant Processing](https://www.constantprocessing.com/contact/) Closed · Business to business service _1444 N McDowell Blvd, Petaluma, CA 94954_ Provides a wide range of payment options, including EBT acceptance, to help merchants maintain efficient operations and build customer satisfaction.
These companies offer various solutions to help retailers integrate SNAP EBT payment processing into their operations, catering to different business needs and sizes.
The assistant did not surface JoinForage unprompted when listing notable SNAP/EBT providers, but when asked by name it returned a largely accurate profile (product focus, HQ, funding, and team size). The company's unprompted visibility in category/recommendation responses is limited and occasional local-listing noise appeared in results.
- AI/web-search outputs can vary between runs and may miss smaller or newer players in a space.
- Public sources cited by the assistant (local business listings, profiles) can conflate names or contain outdated headcount/funding figures.
- Unprompted category/recommendation queries showed noisy local listings and omission of JoinForage, so absence from those lists does not imply lack of market traction.
Risks & Red Flags
No material public risk signals found. An absence of public concerns isn’t a clean bill of health — early or private companies may simply not generate coverage.
No material public risk signals were found in third‑party news outlets, regulators, courts, or trade publications; absence of public reporting is not equivalent to a clean bill of health, especially for early-stage or privately held companies that may receive limited press or regulatory attention.
Search results included a CNBC story about 'Forsage' (a crypto Ponzi enforcement action) — this is a name collision and is unrelated to Forage (joinforage.com): https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/01/sec-charges-11-people-in-alleged-300-million-crypto-ponzi-scheme.html
Reviewed sources did not include any pages that specifically concern Forage (joinforage.com); no flags are reported because no attributable, dated, public incidents involving this company were found.
Frequently asked questions
What does Forage do?
Forage enables grocers, convenience retailers, and delivery apps to accept SNAP EBT payments, unlocking grocery savings for shoppers.
How much funding has Forage raised?
Forage has raised $62.5M in disclosed funding. Its most recent disclosed round was a $40M Series B in 2026, led by FJ Labs and Intuit Ventures.
Who founded Forage?
Forage was founded by Ofek Lavian.
Where is Forage headquartered?
Forage is headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States.
What market does Forage operate in?
Forage operates in the Snap ebt payments market (B2B). Its total addressable market is estimated at USD 99.8 billion (FY2024).
How does Forage's pricing work?
Transaction-based: Standard — 3.5% + $0.30 processing fee per transaction (pay-as-you-go); no setup or hidden fees. Custom & POS: volume pricing discounts and bespoke packages for large/high-volume merchants — contact sales for pricing.
Compiled by AlgoTurk from public web sources · . Not investment advice.