In December 2019, Bushel, an independently-owned software company headquartered in Fargo, North Dakota, announced the closing of its $19.5 million Series B investment. The investment brings the total capital raised by the company to over $28 million since 2015.
Throughout the several iterations of the company, Bushel’s commitment has remained to provide the best industry technology. With its new investment, the company will continue creating and implementing state-of-the-art technology that improves both the profitability and market access for growers.
Of the investment, Bushel’s CEO and co-founder, Jake Joraanstad said in the company’s press release, “We’re excited to have this group of incredible investors support us in our efforts to build software that strengthens relationships between consumers, grain buyers, and producers…Our independent and nimble approach in this market continues to resonate with our customers.”
Bushel Chief Product & Strategy Officer and Co-Founder, Ryan Raguse, echoed Joraanstad’s statement, saying, “This funding will allow Bushel to continue investing in its technology…We’re in a position to provide an end-to-end digital solution for the grain industry and the supply chain. From the smallest elevator to the biggest players in the game, Bushel is improving communication and creating efficiencies.”
Bushel has over 1,200 grain-receiving locations in the U.S. and Canada utilizing Bushel-powered technologies and expects that number to continue to grow with the expansion of Bushel’s resources.
Its customers represent a resilient workforce that puts as much faith into their products each year as they do the hard work. It’s no secret that the farming industry has suffered over the past year, due to an array of weather-related and market hardships.
To mitigate the impact of the blows made this year, tools like Bushel serve to ease the discomforts and emotional discouragements by streamlining business information from grain elevators to their farmers. With its recent investment, Bushel will continue to find best practices that make the business side of farming smarter, and faster. In fact, it’s not just the technology that Bushel is selling, it’s the impact the technology makes on people, both the customer and employee, that truly counts.
To accomplish its mission, Bushel has just as purposeful of a focus on its people as it does its customers. Employees at Bushel enjoy working in a safe space that encourages collaboration and innovation. Bushel’s leadership team performs regular wellness checks, easy-to-use surveys for every employee to fill out to share their current rate of self-value at work. With the results of these ‘pulse’ surveys, the leadership team is able to calibrate and adapt to the needs of its people.
This is especially important for a company like Bushel, whose workforce is made up entirely of in-house talent. The consistently evolving attention to its people and the needs of its customers has given Bushel the unique opportunity to challenge itself to stay ahead of the curve, always trusting its top-tiered, skilled team members to guide the company towards success.
With this recent investment propelling the company into the new year, Bushel has its sights set on what the company values most: those they serve through their products, and the team Bushel has to build, support, and grow those products. Sometimes, a company’s profitability is less about money and more about the lives being changed each and every day.
