London’s Collectiv Food bags €13.8M to transform how food is accessed and distributed within cities; here’s how

London-based Collectiv Food is a next-generation food supply business that is on a mission to transform how food is accessed and distributed within cities. In a recent development, the company announced that it has raised £12M (approx €13.86M) in its Series A round of funding. 

In a statement, Collectiv Food reports that this is the largest recorded Series A round for a managed B2B food marketplace in Europe.

Investors in this round

The round was led by Swedish investment company VNV Global. With more than 20 years of experience, VNV invests in high-growth technology companies with the potential to become global leaders.

In addition, VisVires New Protein (VVNP), Octopus Ventures, Norrsken VC, and existing investors such as Partech, Colle Capital and Mustard Seed also participated in this round. 

Speaking about Collectiv Food, Alexander Danielsson, Senior Investment Manager at Norrsken, explains, “Global food supply chains are riddled with food waste, unnecessary emissions and lack of transparency. If you walk down to your local restaurant and ask where the food comes from, the likely answer is that they don’t know. This is out of touch with consumers’ growing demand for transparency and sustainably sourced food – paving the way for a new take on wholesale. Collectiv Food has developed an ingenious way to source high-quality products directly from producers to restaurants, increasing transparency while also cutting emissions and waste along the way.”

“Quality products at market-beating prices”

Collectiv Food is a food and drink supply business that claims to offer a fair, transparent, and sustainable supply chain for Europe’s professional kitchens. The company sources quality food produced directly from a network of thousands of producers, cutting out the wholesaler middleman and delivering straight to professional kitchens.

Collectiv Food sells on-demand and not by catalogue and selects producers to match buyers’ needs. All of its products are then consolidated through a distribution model before reaching the customer. Its customers range from restaurants and hotels to catering firms, meal-kit companies, and dark kitchens and stores.

Collectiv’s last mile delivery or ‘PODs’ (Points of Distribution) are in disused city locations and results in up to 50 per cent less CO2 emissions than traditional methods. This decentralised model helps the company to offer “market-beating” prices, fresher products, all the while keeping sustainability in mind.

Collectiv Food founder Jeremy Hibbert-Garibaldi says, “It’s a really exciting time for Collectiv Food – we’re being pushed by a combination of strong tailwinds: end-consumers demanding a better understanding of provenance; cities implementing air pollution regulations that limit large freight; a post-Covid hospitality industry desperate to improve margins but with limited staff availability to facilitate this in-house. Combined with our innovative model, we’re able to set our sights on not only becoming a European leader in food distribution over the next few years, but even a global one.”

The company was founded in 2017 by Jeremy Hibbert-Garibaldi and is currently operational in the UK and France.

Capital utilisation

The raised capital from this round will help Collectiv Food’s to further develop its delivery and sourcing models. The company will also be expanding its team, across all functions, in order to meet the demands for its further international expansion in Europe.

Recent growth and development

Over the past year, Collectiv Food has witnessed 200 per cent growth in its customer base. Besides, the company has also seen interest from the hospitality sector, as it offers support and cost savings during the dual impact of Covid-19 and Brexit – which resulted in staff shortages and unreliable supply chains.

And with this, the company aims to grab the opportunity by providing better service to food operators as the European market is projected to grow from £145B to £200B over the next five years.

Brands that are currently using Collectiv’s services include Big Mamma Group, The Hush Collection, Dirty Bones, Megan’s, Crussh, Butchies, Cocotte, Tossed, and Fresh Fitness Food.