Forage's $40M Series B targets the SNAP EBT processing bottleneck. The real read-through is retailer adoption velocity and USDA approval count as the next catalyst.
Forage, a financial infrastructure platform focused on government benefits acceptance, has closed a $40 million Series B funding round. The round was led by Mouro Capital, with participation from Nyca Partners, PayPal Ventures, Long Journey Ventures, Intuit Ventures, NextLadder Ventures, Pivotal Ventures, and FJ Labs. The company will use the capital to scale its new consumer app and expand its payments infrastructure for retailers.
The read-through here is not about Forage itself. It is about the SNAP EBT payment processing sector and the broader shift in how low-income households interact with digital commerce. Forage positions itself as the only USDA-approved, third-party payment processor (TPP) that combines modern software with hands-on retailer onboarding. That is a narrow but defensible moat in a market historically dominated by clunky, state-level systems.
The naive read: Forage raised money to help people check EBT balances. The better read: Forage is attacking the distribution bottleneck that prevents online retailers from accepting SNAP, WIC, and HSA/FSA benefits. The USDA approval process is slow and fragmented. Most payment processors treat it as a compliance checkbox, not a product. Forage's pitch is that it handles the regulatory path so retailers can focus on checkout conversion.
For public market investors, the sector read-through is indirect but real. Companies like Walmart, Amazon, and Kroger already accept SNAP online. The next wave of adoption will come from mid-market grocers, regional chains, and delivery platforms. If Forage succeeds in lowering the integration cost, it accelerates the timeline for those retailers to go live. That means more transaction volume flowing through digital SNAP rails, which benefits payment networks and processors with exposure to government-adjacent flows.
Forage also launched a consumer app that lets low-income families check EBT balances and earn rewards on everyday purchases. On its face, this is a free utility. The better market read: it is a data acquisition and retention tool. The app creates a direct relationship with the end user, which Forage can monetize through merchant-funded rewards, targeted offers, or aggregated spend data.
This mirrors the playbook used by privacy-first fintechs in the earned wage access space. The app is not the product. The app is the distribution channel for a higher-margin service–in this case, connecting brands to a hard-to-reach demographic that is historically underserved by traditional loyalty programs.
The syndicate is worth parsing. PayPal Ventures and Intuit Ventures are strategic investors with clear distribution interests. PayPal wants more payment volume from government benefits. Intuit wants to integrate SNAP eligibility into its tax and financial health products. Nyca Partners and Mouro Capital are fintech specialists that back infrastructure plays, not consumer apps. That mix suggests the thesis is infrastructure-first, with the consumer app as a downstream option.
The next decision point is retailer adoption velocity. Forage's value proposition depends on signing merchants that are not already live with SNAP online. Watch for announcements of new grocery or delivery platform integrations. A partnership with a major third-party delivery aggregator (DoorDash, Instacart, Uber Eats) would be the strongest signal that the infrastructure is scaling.
For investors tracking the SNAP EBT space, the key metric is USDA approval count–how many retailers Forage can bring through the authorization pipeline. Each approval unlocks a new revenue stream from transaction processing fees. The Series B gives Forage about 18 to 24 months of runway to prove that model before the next financing round.
For readers tracking related public equities, SNAP (Snap Inc.) carries an Alpha Score of 46/100 (Mixed) in the Communication Services sector. While Snap is not a direct competitor to Forage, both companies operate in the digital commerce and advertising-adjacent space. Snap's lower score reflects execution risk around its ad platform rebuild, not a read-through on Forage's prospects. The SNAP stock page provides the full scoring breakdown.
For broader context on the payments infrastructure landscape, see the stock market analysis section for sector-level trends.
The Series B closes one chapter and opens another. Forage now has the capital to scale its app and payments infrastructure. The next catalyst will be a USDA approval update or a major retailer go-live announcement. Without those, the funding is just a balance sheet event. With them, the thesis that SNAP EBT processing can be a modern, scalable business gets its first real test.
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