[Funding alert] Berlin-based Torg Secures €2.7 Million in Seed Funding

Lead investor Connect Ventures led the round, including participation from FoodLabs, an existing investor, and new investors Jonas Meynert (co-founder of Lanch and user of Torg), Sondo, and Ventures Together.

With the additional money, Torg hopes to improve its platform, grow its database of suppliers, and create more user-friendly tools that will help buyers save time and do their tasks more easily.

Established in 2022, Torg facilitates the process of finding, connecting, and working together with over 100,000 reputable, verified European food and beverage suppliers for retail and wholesale buyers.

Through supplier discovery, communication, negotiation, and finance, the organisation streamlines sourcing procedures to save time and money for both buyers and suppliers. in an only 14 months.

With the use of AI and machine learning, Torg has created the most comprehensive database of food and beverage providers, which currently contains almost 10 times as many manufacturers as the biggest food fairs, such Anuga and SIAL.

Hans Furuseth, Co-Founder and CEO at Torg said, “Buyers have few good ways of finding new manufacturers. They rely on trade fairs which occur once a year and where less than 10% of global suppliers exhibit, or on desktop research, sifting through unverified websites. The market is much bigger than most buyers realize, We democratize private label products by opening up the market, creating more transparent supply chains, and putting less known, quality suppliers on the map. Our goal is to create meaningful business connections for both sides of the market. In a way, we’re Tinder for sourcing.”

With Torg's solution, buyers can now create a product request in two minutes and send it to hundreds of qualified manufacturers, demonstrating the revolutionary power of AI for sourcing. The platform of the organisation effectively gathers information from various sources to locate, validate, and screen suppliers.

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Complete profiles, certifications, product capabilities, and pertinent contact details are all included in Torg's supplier database. Without the current advances in AI, it would have been difficult to handle such vast amounts of unstructured data.

Sitar Teli, Partner at Connect Ventures said, “The drivers are clear – consumers are demanding transparency, certifications, and lower prices for the food they purchase and grocers and wholesalers are looking to own more of their supply chain in response. Torg enables this by creating the first digital sourcing platform for private label food and beverage, bringing sourcing decades ahead from where it is now,”.

Jonas Meynert Co-Founder at Lanch and angel investor said, “At Lanch, we were so impressed with Torg that I had to invest myself. We tried sourcing the traditional way by using agencies and consultants, but after three months, we had only gotten three quotes, all above our target price. We tried Torg and in two weeks, we received 15 quotes from top manufacturers, most below our target price. Not only did we achieve great results, but due to Torg’s efficient tools, we decided against hiring a dedicated sourcing team and now do all our sourcing through Torg,”.

Till Hoelzer, Principal at FoodLabs said, “Torg is revolutionizing food and beverage procurement and the numbers speak for themselves: over half of Torg buyers receive quotes 30% below their target price. Their platform not only reduces operational burdens but also enables the launch of superior and cheaper private label products, meeting the growing demands of consumers, Hans and the team have built a best in class sourcing solution. We’re eager to support their ongoing efforts to advance industry-leading products”

About Torg

Retail and wholesale buyers can interact with over 100,000 verified food and beverage manufacturers in the foodservice and private label sectors on Torg. They give purchasers the resources they need to quickly create product requests and obtain bids from a carefully selected group of vetted, relevant suppliers.

Their goal is to expedite the procurement process by creating the largest food and beverage database in Europe and fostering productive relationships between suppliers and buyers.