Pictured: Jeremiah Chapman – FreshFry CEO.
The Open Prairie Rural Opportunities Fund and Lightship Capital announce completion of a $3.25 million equity round of financing into FreshFry, a Louisville, Kentucky-based food technology company focused on developing award-winning solutions that result in better tasting foods and increased profitability for establishments operating in the food service, hospitality, and other industries.
The FreshFry Pod is an all-natural, plant-based, sustainable product that cleans and extends the life of frying oil used by restaurants and other facilities that utilize commercial deep fryers for preparing many of their menu items. FreshFry has a national distribution agreement with Sysco and was the recipient of the 2019 Sysco Supplier Excellence Award as a Gold-Level Supplier in the Corporate Social Responsibility category.
“As the food service industry looks to reinvent itself and optimize every aspect of operations and as establishments seek to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic, FreshFry is poised to capitalize on the opportunity to deliver reliable, environmentally-conscious products that generate cost savings through longer oil life and reduced labor and maintenance,” stated Jim Schultz, Founder and Managing Partner with Open Prairie.
With the funding from Open Prairie and Lightship Capital, FreshFry will bolster its sales, marketing, and operations teams and will seek to cultivate strategic partnerships in key market sectors. FreshFry will also accelerate research and development activities to broaden the portfolio of products and services for its rapidly growing customer base.
Jeremiah Chapman, Co-Founder and CEO of FreshFry commented, “The foodservice market is resilient and the goal for those who innovate in this market is to gain efficiencies that free up capital, labor, and overall functionality that enable flexible solutions to ever-changing market pressures. For FreshFry, the partnership with Open Prairie and Lightship Capital will accelerate the implementation of strategic initiatives that strengthen our position to drive innovation, address customer challenges, and utilize our core technologies to enhance productivity across the entire value chain.”
FreshFry is Lightship Capital’s first investment from their debut $50 million dollar fund for underrepresented entrepreneurs. “When starting a new fund, you want to select a first investment that signals the quality of your future selections to your investors,” says Lightship Capital General Partner, Candice Matthews Brackeen. “We needed a transformative company with a rockstar founder– and that’s exactly what we have in FreshFry and Jerimiah.”
