A venture-capital investor in Chicago-based Groupon is placing a bet on another local company.

Chicago-based Abe’s Market , an online marketplace for a wide range of natural products, has closed a $3.4 million round of financing led by Accel Partners, which in late 2009 invested in Groupon. Accel, which has more than $6 billion under management, is joined by existing investor Index Ventures as well as other angel investors.

Abe’s Market works with almost 300 vendors and said it has seen its orders grow by 900 percent over the past six months.

“We have seen tremendous growth in specialty e-commerce,” Accel partner Adam Valkin said in a statement. Accel also counts Kayak and Diapers.com among its e-commerce investments “With its fragmented base of passionate sellers and a fast growing population of motivated buyers, we see natural products as a particularly attractive category.

Sellers on Abe’s Market include mom-and-pop entrepreneurs, corporate executives, father-daughter teams and celebrity manicurists.

To read a recent New York Times story about Abe’s, click here.