New funding will accelerate the company’s AI-enabled platform across ordering, sales productivity, and financial workflows

Pepper, the end-to-end technology platform for independent food distributors, today announced it has raised $50 million in Series C funding to expand product innovation, deepen AI-enabled capabilities, and accelerate adoption across the independent food distribution ecosystem. The round was led by Lead Edge Capital, with participation from existing investors including ICONIQ, Index Ventures, Greylock, Harmony Partners, and Interplay.

Pepper’s suite of products helps independent food distributors grow revenue and boost productivity by modernizing core workflows across ordering, sales and marketing, accounts receivable, and embedded payments. The company serves more than 500 distributors, representing approximately $30 billion in annual gross merchandise volume, and supports over 100,000 active operators nationwide.

“Food distribution is one of the largest and most fundamental markets in the world, yet it has long operated on manual systems and fragmented technology,” said Bowie Cheung, CEO of Pepper. “This newest round of funding enables us to build the next generation of platform capabilities our customers rely on to run every critical part of their business, from ordering workflows to sales productivity and payments capabilities. Independent distributors can no longer survive on legacy technology, and our product suite gives these business owners the same technological advantage that has historically been reserved for food industry giants.”

Driving Scale and Impact Across Legacy Workflows

Independent distributors account for more than two-thirds of food distribution in North America, representing over $1.4 trillion in annual sales, yet much of the industry continues to operate as a highly fragmented market and relies on manual and analog systems. Pepper’s platform bridges that gap with broad product depth and workflow automation built for the unique needs of distribution, including 70+ ERP integrations that link legacy systems into a unified, digital operating stack.

As the industry faces ongoing consolidation and competitive pressure from the largest distributors, Pepper’s open platform approach gives independents the tools to win market share and compete more effectively in a rapidly evolving landscape.

Capitalizing on Momentum to Expand the Platform

Pepper has evolved into an end-to-end technology partner for food distributors. The newest round of funding will be used to strengthen Pepper’s position as a category leader and build out the company’s product roadmap, including:

• Introducing next-generation AI and data solutions that enable distributors to maximize profitability, automate repetitive functions, and streamline core operations

• Expanding Pepper’s Storefront, Sales Hub, Order Agent, Finance Hub, and Growth Agent modules to support end-to-end distributor operations

• Scaling integrations across the food distribution technology stack to support faster onboarding and interoperability

• Continued investment in go-to-market and customer success functions to support broad adoption

“Our partnership with Pepper builds on Lead Edge Capital’s experience backing category-defining technology platforms in fragmented, high-potential markets,” said Aaron Darr, Principal at Lead Edge Capital. “Independent food distributors operate at enormous scale but remain siloed. Pepper provides the shared technology infrastructure that brings that market together.”

“Pepper has fundamentally changed how we operate day to day,” said Jackie Oakes, Director of Marketing at Flanagan Foodservice. “Their platform gives our team clarity and speed we didn’t have before, and it’s become a critical part of how we serve our customers at scale.”

"Pepper is building software for the future of food distribution – software we can put to work today,” said Brian Handley, President at Palmer Food Services. “As the industry evolves, their platform lets us invest confidently in long-term technology while continuing to deliver on our near-term goals."

Today, Pepper’s platform supports end-to-end distributor operations across commerce, sales productivity, finance and collections, embedded payments, and supplier marketing, including a growing advertising platform for food manufacturers. Pepper is also the only company in the category to have consistently solved the complexity of ERP integrations at scale, allowing distributors to modernize without replacing the systems that run their businesses.

About Pepper

Pepper is the end-to-end technology platform for food distributors, powering ordering, sales and marketing, accounts receivable, and embedded payments workflows in one unified system. The company’s AI-enabled technology helps distributors increase revenue, boost productivity, and modernize operations. Pepper is headquartered in New York City, NY.

About Lead Edge Capital

Lead Edge Capital is a $5 billion growth equity firm investing in software, internet, and tech-enabled businesses globally. The firm has invested in a number of major software and internet companies around the world, including Alibaba Group, Arrive Logistics, Asana, Azul Systems, Bazaarvoice, Benchling, Clearscore, Duo Security, Grafana, GrowthZone, Holistiplan, LeanStaffing, LiveView Technologies, Pacemate, Safesend, Toast, Wise, and YouSign. One of the main drivers of Lead Edge’s success is its unique investor base, a network of 700+ executives, entrepreneurs, and dealmakers who have built and run some of the world’s most successful companies. In addition to providing flexible capital, Lead Edge leverages this global network to connect portfolio companies with the customers, partners, talent, and advisors needed to accelerate growth. Lead Edge Capital was founded in 2011 and has offices in New York City, London and Santa Barbara.

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"Pepper is building software for the future of food distribution – software we can put to work today.”