Farmdrop aims to raise £3m to fund home delivery plans

Farmdrop, the online marketplace which “connects London shoppers with local farmers”, is hoping to raise around £3 million in new investment in order to fund its plans for a city-wide home delivery service. According to a report published in The Telegraph and referenced on the company’s official blog, Farmdrop has already been boosted by the news that Alex Chesterman, the founder of Zoopla and LoveFilm, plans to invest £100,000 in the project.

Farmdrop is in talks with other “angel investors” and is set to launch a “crowdfunding” round on CrowdCube later this month. The company raised around £750,000 from a round on Crowdcube last year.

Farmdrop is looking for the new investment so it can continue to transform its business mode from a click-and-collect hub service to one which also offers home deliveries across London.

Established by Ben Pugh in 2013, the company delivers to 16 Click & Collect pick-up points across London but now also offers free home delivery on orders of more than £25.

The company first piloted the home delivery service in Muswell Hill, north London, and currently makes around 1,000 deliveries a month.

“We are aiming for 5,000 orders a month within a year,” said Pugh, adding that Farmdrop has recruited quite a heavyweight board of industry experts” – from companies including eBay and ASOS – “in recognition of the fact that we are becoming a logistics company”.