Foodzie brings Specialty Foods Online
By Azam on December 16, 2008 
Foodzie raises $1M in seed funding for online marketplace for specialty food producers and growers. Foodzie was part of startups incubated by TechStars program in Boulder. Foodzie serves a niche that can take advantage of web technology to improve marketing and distibution for small specialty food that would be limited in ability to reach consumers and larger realailers.
Foodzie intends to be online destination for specialty foods based on regional production and limited distribution. Companies would showcase their products on the online marketplace for greater exposure. Users can research on specialty food offerings with annotation using web 2.0 tools such as tagging and labeling.
The company has an emphasis on handmade and locally-grown products from across the country, you can’t just pick up Foodzie’s offerings at your nearest Whole Foods or specialty-foods store.
Foodzie makes it easy for producers to set up an online store through Foodzie, and establish their presence through their company and product descriptions. The site connects buyers directly to the producers, and consumers have a direct way of contacting the individual producers as well through Foodzie.
Foodzie service allows small producers manage their own inventory and all of the shipping while Foodzie handles the transactions. Foodzie revenue model involvesa small $0.60 cent transaction fee and about 20 percent commission on all sales. Organic, gluten-free, vegan and nut-free products appear to be among the most sought after items on Foodzie.
The seed funding comes from Jeff Clavier at SoftTechVC, First Round Capital and undisclosed angel investors.
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Tags : , First Round Capital, Foodzie, Jeff Clavier, Organic, SoftTechVC, Speality Foods, Vegan