Some big names are making an investment in food stamps — specifically in Propel, a startup that helps food stamp recipients manage their benefits.
Propel is announcing that it has raised $4 million in seed funding from Andreessen Horowitz, Omidyar Network, Kevin Durant’s The Durant Company and Max Levchin’s SciFi VC, as well as previous investors Jay Borenstein, WinWin and the Financial Solutions Lab at the Center for Financial Services Innovation.
“We’re excited to prove that venture-backed startups can responsibly address social issues, too,” founder and CEO Jimmy Chen told me via email. “In our business model, the best way to amplify our impact is to grow our business, by getting more users on the platform or by finding them more savings on groceries.”
Propel has created a free app called Fresh EBT — the EBT refers the Electronics Benefits Transfer card,…