Pod Foods, which links emerging food brands to nationwide retailers, has secured seed funding from investors including Microsoft's M12 and plans to now expand across the US.

US-based food distribution platform developer Pod Foods has completed a $3m seed round featuring software provider Microsoft’s corporate venturing subsidiary, M12.

The round was led by venture capital firm Moment Ventures and included Unshackled Ventures, a VC firm that concentrates on startups established by immigrant founders.

Pod Foods has built a logistics platform that links new, emerging and local food brands to retailers across the US. It has attracted some 100 retailers and 350 brands to its San Francisco-based service and will now expand to other cities beginning with Chicago.

Larissa Russell, co-founder and chief executive of Pod Foods, said: “Consumers want better products, and thousands of emerging brands and artisans are ready to provide. But distribution has not evolved.”

Robert Lavine

Robert Lavine is special features editor for Global Venturing.