SAN FRANCISCO — PartnerSlate, an online marketplace connecting food brands to contract manufacturers, has raised $4 million in a funding round led by Supply Change Capital.
Founded in 2021, PartnerSlate enables collaboration across the $200 billion food and beverage contract manufacturing industry by matching consumer packaged goods companies to nearly 6,000 manufacturing partners in its database, according to the company. Co-manufacturers may search for projects based on specific equipment, capabilities, risk appetite and capacity. Hundreds of projects are listed on the platform each month, per PartnerSlate.
“PartnerSlate can cut a brand’s search for the right co-man from months to days,” said Vince Tseng, co-founder and chief executive officer. “Our approach replaces cold-calling with data science, helping both parties save hundreds of hours of following mismatched leads to dead ends.”
Rob Hannusch, sales director at Thermal Kitchen, a Florida-based co-manufacturer, said the service has “transformed our ability to get new customers.”
“We’re now working with multiple customers through PartnerSlate, and it’s been invaluable in helping us hit our 2023 growth goals,” he said.
PartnerSlate will use the new funding to expand project management features on the platform and invest in sales and marketing.
“We’ve seen a 3x growth in projects since our beta launch four months ago,” said Matt Suggs, co-founder and chief business officer. “Startups love that we can find the right-sized partners, Fortune 500 brands appreciate the breadth and speed of our network, and co-mans like that we are a one-stop shop to streamline business development.”
Additional investors participating in the round included Cleveland Avenue, ResilienceVC, Pacific Fin Capital, Mentors fund, Newlin VC, and the MBA fund.
“We are thrilled to be leading PartnerSlate’s round,” said Shayna Harris, managing partner at Supply Change Capital and PartnerSlate board member. “Finding the right manufacturing partner is a bottleneck for both emergent CPG businesses and incumbent brands looking to adapt to changing consumer tastes. PartnerSlate’s leadership team has both the right food manufacturing and software development experience to build the platform the market so desperately needs.”Enjoying this content? Learn about more disruptive startups on the Food Entrepreneur page.
