Forage Raises $40M Series B to Modernize America's Benefits Infrastructure
Forage raised $40M in Series B funding led by Mouro Capital to expand SNAP EBT infrastructure serving retailers, platforms, and millions of Americans.
San Francisco-based Forage has raised $40M in Series B funding led by Mouro Capital, with participation from Nyca Partners, PayPal Ventures, Long Journey Ventures, Intuit Ventures, NextLadder Ventures, Pivotal Ventures, and FJ Labs.
The funding brings Forage's disclosed capital raised to at least $62M, following a $22M Series A in 2022, and comes after the company reported 13x payment volume growth, expansion to more than 100,000 stores across all 50 states, and more than 100,000 consumer app downloads since late 2025.
Forage operates inside one of the largest yet least discussed payment ecosystems in the United States. More than 42M Americans rely on programs such as SNAP, while over $100B flows through government benefit programs annually. As online grocery ordering and digital commerce became standard consumer behavior, pressure increased on benefits infrastructure originally designed for a pre-mobile economy.
The Series B signals growing investor conviction that government payments infrastructure is evolving into a major fintech category, creating opportunities for companies that can bridge public benefits systems with modern commerce experiences.
What Happened
San Francisco-based Forage announced a $40M Series B round led by Mouro Capital, adding another chapter to a company quietly building the connective tissue between government benefits and modern commerce. Infrastructure businesses rarely attract attention because success is measured by what users never notice. Payments clear, transactions process, benefits work, and life moves forward. The moment infrastructure becomes visible is usually the moment something has gone wrong.
Forage's business is straightforward in concept but complex in execution. The company enables merchants and platforms to accept SNAP EBT and EBT Cash payments, helping bridge government benefits programs with online and in-store commerce experiences. Under the leadership of Ofek Lavian, Co-Founder and CEO, Forage has focused on modernizing payment experiences for consumers, retailers, and delivery platforms operating inside the benefits ecosystem. The company has become part of the operational backbone supporting benefit acceptance for organizations including Dollar General, DoorDash, Uber Eats, Gopuff, and Save A Lot.
Why This Matters
The easiest mistake to make when evaluating Forage is to view government benefits infrastructure as a niche market. The numbers suggest the opposite. More than 42M Americans receive benefits through programs like SNAP, and more than $100B moves through government benefit programs every year. That places benefits payments among the largest payment ecosystems in the country, yet much of the underlying infrastructure evolved under very different technological assumptions.
Digital commerce accelerated, consumer expectations accelerated, and mobile adoption accelerated. Benefits infrastructure often moved at a slower pace due to regulatory requirements, compliance frameworks, and legacy technology environments. That created friction for consumers trying to use benefits online, retailers attempting to support benefit recipients, and delivery platforms integrating payment methods that were never originally designed for modern e-commerce. Forage built its business around reducing that friction.
Market Context
Fintech spent much of the past decade chasing digital banking, embedded finance, payments optimization, and consumer financial products. Government benefits infrastructure rarely occupied the center of those conversations. That created a curious market dynamic: the opportunity remained massive, the need remained obvious, and the technology gap remained persistent.
Meanwhile, consumer behavior changed dramatically. Online grocery ordering shifted from convenience to expectation, delivery platforms became everyday infrastructure, and mobile-first commerce became normal behavior across demographics. Benefit recipients increasingly expected access to the same digital experiences available to every other consumer. Forage entered that gap at a time when consumer expectations and legacy infrastructure were moving in opposite directions, and the company's reported 13x payment volume growth suggests demand for benefits modernization is accelerating alongside broader digital commerce adoption.
Competitive Landscape
Forage operates in a specialized segment of payments infrastructure where compliance, regulatory approvals, merchant onboarding, and transaction reliability matter as much as software design. The company states it is 1 of only 3 USDA-approved EBT payment processors in the United States, a credential that creates meaningful barriers to entry. Unlike many fintech categories where new entrants can launch quickly, government benefits infrastructure requires regulatory approval, operational trust, and deep integration with public systems.
Many software categories reward speed. Government payments reward reliability. Retailers need certainty, consumers need confidence, and platforms need integrations that function consistently at scale. This reality helps explain why investors including Mouro Capital, Nyca Partners, and PayPal Ventures continue backing the company. Notably, both Nyca Partners and PayPal Ventures participated in Forage's Series A and Series B rounds, signaling continued conviction in the company's execution and market position.
What This Signals
The Forage funding round reflects a broader shift occurring across fintech infrastructure. Investors are increasingly moving toward sectors where modernization remains incomplete and where complexity creates defensible businesses. Government benefits payments fit that profile particularly well. The easiest opportunities in fintech have largely been identified, while the next wave increasingly involves regulated markets, infrastructure layers, and operationally complex systems that require patience, compliance expertise, and long-term execution.
Forage has now disclosed at least $62M in funding, and investors appear to be betting that benefits infrastructure is becoming a strategic layer of the digital economy rather than an overlooked administrative function. The market may be large, but scale alone does not create value. Solving difficult problems at scale does.
The Bigger Industry Shift
A broader pattern is emerging across technology. Software is moving deeper into systems that historically operated behind the scenes. Payments infrastructure, identity verification, compliance automation, healthcare administration, public-sector technology, and benefits distribution are all becoming software-defined markets. The common thread is accessibility.
Consumers increasingly expect every system to function with the speed and simplicity of the best digital experiences they use daily, and markets eventually adapt to those expectations. Companies that connect legacy infrastructure with modern user experiences often become valuable because they solve problems hiding in plain sight. Forage is not attempting to reinvent government benefits programs. It is attempting to make those programs work more effectively inside modern commerce. That distinction may ultimately matter more than the funding announcement itself.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Forage?
Forage is a San Francisco-based fintech infrastructure company that enables merchants and platforms to accept SNAP EBT and EBT Cash payments across online and in-store commerce channels.
How much funding has Forage raised?
Forage has disclosed at least $62M in funding, including a $22M Series A and a $40M Series B.
Who led Forage's Series B funding round?
Mouro Capital led Forage's $40M Series B, with participation from Nyca Partners, PayPal Ventures, Long Journey Ventures, Intuit Ventures, NextLadder Ventures, Pivotal Ventures, and FJ Labs.
Who is Ofek Lavian?
Ofek Lavian is the Co-Founder and CEO of Forage.
What does Forage's technology do?
Forage provides infrastructure that enables retailers, merchants, and platforms to accept SNAP EBT and EBT Cash payments while integrating government benefits into digital commerce experiences.
Why is SNAP infrastructure becoming a fintech opportunity?
Online grocery ordering, mobile commerce, and delivery platforms have increased demand for modern benefits-payment systems capable of supporting digital transactions at scale.
How large is the SNAP market?
More than 42M Americans receive benefits through programs such as SNAP, while government benefit programs distribute more than $100B annually.
Which companies use Forage?
Forage's infrastructure supports organizations including Dollar General, DoorDash, Uber Eats, Gopuff, and Save A Lot.
