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Farmdrop secures £3m in latest funding round
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Farmdrop, the online marketplace that lets people buy fresh food direct from local farmers and producers, has secured £3m investment in its latest round of funding. The funding was led by Atomico, the investment company founded by Niklas Zennström.
Company founder Ben Pugh says that Farmdrop’s key selling point is its closed-loop “click-to-harvest” technology which makes it easy for consumers to buy the freshest food direct from local farms.
In a statement sent to Post&Parcel today (3 February), the Bermondsey-based business said that it has grown its customer base by over 230% year on year since it launched in 2014 after raising a £750,000 investment on crowd-funding platform, CrowdCube. The company has a growing number of influential foodie fans including TV chefs Gizzi Erskine and Thomasina Miers.
Atomico was founded in 2006 with a mission to invest in innovative technology companies that are on the way to becoming category leaders.
Other investors included JamJar Investments, which is run by the three Innocent entrepreneurs, Richard Reed, Jon Wright and Adam Balon.
Further backing was received from Jonathan Goodwin, co-founder of Lepe Partners and Founders Forum, Jason Goodman, CEO and founder of Albion, as well as previous angel investors Alex Chesterman, founder of Zoopla and Quentin Griffiths, co-founder of ACHICA and ASOS.
Summing what appealed about Farmdrop, Katie Leviten, Investment Manager at JamJar, commented: “Farmdrop taps into two key consumer grocery trends: fresher and sourced locally. Farmdrop is a win-win, the shopper and their family get delicious fresh food and the farmers are fairly rewarded which makes the model a sustainable improvement to the current status quo.”