The Grocer – 20 July 2019

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10 | The Grocer | 20 July 2019 Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk

Gousto raises £30m to

expand automation

Gousto has now raised over £100m since its 2012 launch

Elena Cherubini
Meal kit delivery busi-
ness Gousto has secured
a further £30m in fund-
ing to expand automation
and grow its tech team.
The direct-to-consumer
supplier plans to use the
new capital to “evolve its
technology proposition”,
hiring 140 new staff
members by 2022.
Gousto, currently the
only recipe box company
to have automated pro-
duction, will continue
to invest “significantly”
in automation to enable
more orders to be pro-
cessed via AI as well as
offering a “completely
customisable” personal-
ised experience.
AI will also contribute
to building a zero-waste
supply chain, using data
and algorithms to predict

weekly recipe orders

reducing the amount of

surplus ingredients.

“In the next year the

plan is to integrate tech-

nology, data science and

machine learning into

every department and

innovate the proposition

even further,” founder

and CEO Timo Boldt said.

“Artificial intelligence

has the potential to trans-

form whole parts of our

business; from customer

service, to finance, to

marketing.”

The latest cash injec-

tion was led by private

equity firm Perwyn,

joining existing inves-

tors including BGF

Ventures, MMC Ventures,

Canaccord Genuity,

Unilever Ventures and fit-

ness guru Joe Wicks.

It follows an £18m cash

boost secured in January

2019, and brings the total

raised since Gousto’s

launch in 2012 to over

£100m.

Gousto would not dis-

close its valuation but

claimed to have seen

70% growth in the first

half of 2019 versus the

same period in 2018, now

delivering almost two

million meals a month.

Boldt added the com-

pany was “on track” to

deliver a total of 400 mil-

lion meals to UK dinner

tables by 2025.

The UK recipe box mar-

ket is expected to exceed

£1.5bn by 2022, Gousto

said, with the company

in “pole position” to grow

its market share.

London-based craft

brewer Hop Stuff has

been sold to Carling

owner Molson Coors in a

pre-pack deal, wiping out

£1.5m of crowdfunding

investment.

The brewer called in

administrators at KPMG

last week after it experi-

enced “tough financial

headwinds”.

The administrators

sold Hop Stuff’s assets –

including a brewery and

three bars – to beer giant

Molson Coors as part of

a pre-packaged adminis-

tration process.

Hop Stuff called in the

administrators last week

Molson Coors

picks up Hop

Stuff brewery

Sauce Shop will launch a

Crowdcube campaign

Independent craft sauce
brand Sauce Shop is
planning a £250k fun-
draising drive to scale
up production and meet
“huge” customer demand
for its condiments.
It will launch a crowd-
funding campaign on
Crowdcube at the end of
July in exchange for 5%
of its equity, valuing the
five-year-old startup at
£4.8m.
The cash raised will
be used to expand into
bigger premises and
increase production of its
range of sauces including
ketchups, mayonnaises,

Indie brand Sauce Shop seeking

£250k to scale up production

barbecue and hot sauces.

If it raises more than

£250k, it will use the

extra cash for market-

ing and to add to its sales

team. Sauce Shop said

it was open to overfund

up to £750k but is “more

likely” to stop at £500k.

The business, which

started in the kitchen of

husband and wife James

and Pam Digva, moved

into its current premises

over three years ago.

However, it had now

reached a point where, at

the current location, “we

cannot expand any fur-

ther”, James Digva said.

“We need the equip-

ment so that we can pro-

duce more sauce. At the

moment we produce

around three to four

tonnes of products per

week, and we are looking

to at least double that, if

not treble,” he added.

Haribo sales rose 5.2% in

2018, new accounts show

Sales at sweets manufac-

turer Haribo’s UK busi-

ness rose 5.2% last year,

“outperforming” a chal-

lenging market on the

back of increased inter-

national demand.

Accounts filed at

Companies House for

Global demand surge

boosts Haribo sales

Dunhills (Pontefract),

Haribo’s parent company

in the UK, showed total

turnover up to £181.6m in

2018 from £172.7m.

Export sales contrib-

uted to 73% of the total

increase, rising by £6.5m,

while UK sales – account-

ing for 89% of the com-

pany’s business – added

£2.4m.

As a result of increased

demand from the US,

Haribo last week said

it would boost produc-

tion at its West Yorkshire

facility, which from 2020

will handle all exports to

the US market.

TRANSFORMATIVE TECH

Artificial intelligence has the potential to transform

whole parts of our business – Timo Boldt, founder and

CEO, Gousto