Crowdfunding October round-up: Food delivery technology reigns

A look at the latest F&B businesses seeking crowdfunding investment online, including a host of D2C delivery solutions

October proved an incredibly busy month across the food and beverage segments of crowdfunding platforms Seedrs and Crowdcube, particularly as the demand for ecommerce and D2C products and services grows among consumers.

Here’s a round-up of food and beverage start-ups that listed on either of the two platforms in October, seeking capital from retail investors.

The British Hamper Company: £400,000 target

Artisanal hamper provider The British Hamper Company launched on Crowdcube in late October, offering retail investors a 3.85% equity stake for up to £400,000 in capital.

The platform promises “contemporary products and shopping experiences in a dated food gift sector” and has established a subscriber-base of 11,000 users since its launch.

The British Hamper Company was established in 2014 with a focus on ecommerce. It has since launched an offline B2B sales channel which contributed to its £2.9 million turnover and £395,000 net profit in 2021.

Its products are all British, with many sourced locally from independent manufacturers and distributors.

Funds raised will be invested in further growing its online membership and re-entering the EU by opening a European fulfilment unit.

The new capital will also go towards strengthening the company’s B2B sales team, developing sustainable packaging and building out its digital marketing footprint in the US to expand the brand’s reach.

Since launching its campaign a few days ago the start-up has secured £259,735 from 144 investors.

Good Club: £1 million target (oversubscribed)

With sustainability at its core, Good Club is also harnessing the power of the D2C food-delivery boom.

The zero-waste online supermarket provides a range of 150 products in reusable packaging.

The company’s gross merchandise value or volume of goods sold has increased 2000% since September 2019, its Crowdcube campaign claims.

Since its launch it has saved 125,000 pieces of reusable plastic. It expects to double its reusable range to cover 50% of all sales, up from the 23% it is currently covering.  

Its £1 million investment target has been oversubscribed by 103% with 13 days left on the listing.

The start-up expects to reinvest funds raised into scaling and automating its cleaning, returns and filing systems.

This would allow for next day delivery options and high stock levels. It is also developing new product categories.

Good Club’s senior management team’s experience spans various major food brands including Graze, Tails.com and Cadbury’s as well as retailer Marks & Spencer.

Prior to its crowdfunding campaign, the company obtained investment from a number of angel investors and syndicates.

Breedr: £1.5 million target

Elsewhere, foodtech innovator Breedr is seeking £1.5 million in crowdfunding investment to improve and scale its livestock supply chain technology.

Breedr is digitising livestock data to develop a complete technology solution that is seeking to increase farm productivity, trade virtual livestock cost-effectively and finance livestock purchases.

The company has raised £5.2 million to date through investment from VCs Forward Partners and LocalGlobe.

Since its launch, the start-up has traded £3 million worth of cattle, and has over 1000 farmers actively using its technology.

Breedr raised £1.6 million prior to launching its Crowdcube campaign in late October. The company was valued at £16 million and is offering retail investors a 9.68% equity share for a share price of £4.64.

Funds raised will go towards further development of the platform.

The Neighbourhood Kitchen: £140,000 target

The Neighbourhood Kitchen is a food delivery service tackling what it claims is an unfair concentration of takeaway platforms in London and other major UK cities.

The network of kitchens expects to provide rural and less populated areas with a selection of up to 10 new food delivery brands.

The start-up has so far tested nine brands in its trial kitchen, delivering up to 25,000 dishes in the six months it has been live.

The Neighbourhood Kitchen has set out to raise £140,000 via Seedrs and has a pre-money valuation of £1.5 million. It is offering retail investors up to 9.76% in equity with a £1.24 share price.

At the time of writing the round was oversubscribed by 15%.

The start-up’s founders cut their teeth at high-street restaurant chains Itsu and Pizza Express.

It claims to break the takeaway platform mould by operating its own brands instead of building kitchens for other operators or providing a middle-man delivery service to separate restaurants.

The platform is aiming to dispatch orders in under 7 minutes thanks to its smart kitchen model.

The capital it raises will be used to set up an additional kitchen in the South of England this year. It will also be invested in building an operational management system to sustain the growing business.