By: Senior staff writer – Easton Ellsworth

eFresh.com, a Dutch tech startup billing itself as an eBay-like online marketplace for fresh foods, has raised $5.4 million to bolster its usability and international marketing.

Rabobank, one of the Netherlands‘ biggest banks, took care of thi funding round for eFresh. The first round of funding has not been disclosed and was spearheaded by private investors.

One thing I find fascinating about eFresh is its revenue model. It simply charges what amounts to several hundred dollars a year in membership fees and adds some advertising to the mix. No pesky commissions like you see with eBay and most popular auction/marketplace sites.

On eFresh you can go to market, as it were – and buy or sell meat, eggs, flowers, etc. There’s an integrated bank-to-escrow system so you can handle transactions on the fly with the other party to the sale.

TechStartups gives eFresh more than a fighting chance, as long as they continue to make it easy and appealing for those who buy and sell produce to do it online. If they can strengthen their mobile offerings, release their site in different languages and for international audiences, and promote their brand more widely, eFresh will likely never go stale, even in this drab global economy.