Mar 8, 2023

Produce Pay makes Fast Company innovators list

ProducePay, designed to transform the global produce industry into a more connected and sustainable supply chain, has been named to Fast Company’s prestigious annual list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2023.

This year’s list highlights the global businesses at the forefront of their respective industries, paving the way for the innovations of tomorrow. In addition to the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies, 540 organizations are recognized across 54 sectors and regions.

This year, Fast introduced a brand new “Agriculture” category where ProducePay has earned the standing of No. 5.

“The ag sector has been at the forefront of technology adoption on-farm and in logistics, so it’s an incredible honor to be recognized as one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative AgTech companies,” Pat Mccullough, ProducePay CEO, said in a news release. “We’re building on the sector’s innovative history, applying cutting-edge marketplace technology to drive greater efficiency across the entire supply chain.

“This will not only create more prosperity for farmers and produce buyers, but also increase trust and transparency within the industry, while bringing fresher and more sustainable produce to families around the world,” he said in the release.

One of the innovations that earned ProducePay this distinction from Fast Company has been the recent launch of its QuickPay+ program, a financing solution which empowers growers and disrupts the produce industry’s decades-old practice of pick and pack by allowing verified sellers on its marketplace to receive up to 96% of payment for shipments in 24 hours instead of standard arrangements of up to 60 days.

ProducePay earned standing on Fast Company’s coveted list for developing a first-of-its-kind Carbon Offset Program in partnership with ALLCOT specifically for produce growers, who until now have not had the tools to participate in the rapidly growing voluntary carbon market—which is estimated to reach $50 billion by 2030.

Being named to Fast Company’s list comes at the end of a banner year in which ProducePay grew year-over-year by 85% and grew overall transactions on its marketplace by 279%. In December, ProducePay also received a 2022 BIG Award for Business in the “Start-up of the Year ” category and was a finalist in Los Angeles Business Journal’s 2022 International Business Awards.

“What a strange and thrilling year it has been to honor this year’s Most Innovative Companies,”

Fast Company editor-in-chief Brendan Vaughan said in the release. “This year’s list compiles some of the most cutting-edge groundbreakers who are changing our world every single day, from legacy organizations like McDonald’s to upstarts like MrBeast and institutions such as NASA. Everyone on this list does something completely, uniquely different, yet, they all have one thing in common: innovation,” Vaughan said in the release.

Fast Company will host its third annual Most Innovative Companies Summit on April 19-20. The virtual summit celebrates the Most Innovative Companies in business, and provides an inside look at cutting-edge business trends and what it takes to innovate in 2023. Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies issue (March/April 2023) is available online here, as well as in-app form via iTunes, and on newsstands beginning March 14.