Food tech company expands into South America with the addition of leading importer-exporter
GrubMarket has announced the acquisition of leading global fresh fruit importer and exporter Salix Fruits, the food tech company’s first major expansion into South America.
GrubMarket has been on a mission to digitally transform the food supply chain since it was founded in 2014. In this time, it has acquired a number of US fresh produce companies and added even more to WholesaleWare, its software-as-a-service platform for food industry wholesalers and distributors.
The addition of Salix Fruits brings a wide portfolio of produce items ranging across apples, lemons, oranges, tangerines, pears, grapes and more. It has hundreds of growers in more than 20 countries and serves over 450 customers across 50 countries worldwide, including Argentina, Chile, Brazil, South Africa, Spain, India, and the US.
“The acquisition of Salix Fruits marks our official expansion into South America, which shows our rapid and profitable growth capabilities in both domestic and international markets. We already have strong relationships with growers and producers in most South American countries, which have allowed us to become one of the largest suppliers of South American fruits in the US,” said Mike Xu, chief executive of GrubMarket.
“Now through our acquisition of Salix Fruits, we will bring our eCommerce network effects and software technology capabilities to enable digital transformation on a global scale. Juan and the incredible team at Salix Fruits have scaled the company to achieve strong revenue growth and profitability. In addition, they are a forward-thinking team, with experience adopting new technology to their fresh fruit producers and customers.”
Salix Fruit was founded nearly ten years ago by fresh fruit industry veterans Juan González Pita and Luis Elortondo. Today it is still managed by chief operating officer Pita alongside chief executive Alejandro Moralejo and chief financial officer Daniel Calvo. The current leadership team will continue to manage the business aft the acquisition, an opportunity Pita is looking forward to.
“We are excited to join the GrubMarket team and welcome the opportunities brought forth by GrubMarket’s robust technology platform and strong e-commerce supply and demand network,” said Pita.
“We strive to offer superior service, reliability and quality, as an importer and exporter of fresh fruit for our global customers, and also seek to further tap into a best-in-class grower network. We are thrilled to learn that GrubMarket shares this same goal and has built out such a well-integrated and much-needed e-commerce and technology-enabled platform to bring fresh food to so many important customers across the country.
“We have had the same vision about the need for a global fruit marketplace for many years. By joining with GrubMarket, we can make that vision come true. We are proud to be GrubMarket’s first South American acquisition and look forward to being a part of the continued South American expansion journey.”
As a part of GrubMarket’s portfolio, Salix Fruits will now utilise GrubMarket’s proprietary WholesaleWare software suite.
