UK’s Collectiv Food banks $17m to transform urban food supply chains

Collectiv Food has raised $16.5 million funding in what it claims is “largest recorded Series A round [by] a B2B food supply business in Europe.”

Sweden’s VNV Global and Singapore’s VisVires New Protein (VVNP) co-led the round. Octopus Ventures, Norrsken VC, and Partech also participated.

Collectiv Food said in a statement that it will use the Series A funds to accelerate its sales, marketing, and R&D efforts, and expand further in Europe having already launched in its native UK and nearby France.

The startup allows its city-based customers — including restaurants, caterers, and grocers — to buy produce collectively, enabling them to secure more competitive prices than if they bought individually through traditional channels.

It sources “high-value products such as meat, plant-based protein, and seafood” directly from more than 1,000 “carefully vetted” producers.

Collectiv also cuts out intermediaries and eliminates food waste and loss by delivering fresh food directly from producers to its customers, offering a transparent supply chain that it manages end-to-end. By leaning on automation and an “innovative” last-mile delivery setup, the company claims it’s able to save its clients as much as 25% in costs and reduce typical delivery emissions by half.

Customers include several of the UK’s “fastest growing restaurant groups,” including The Hush Collection, Big Mamma Group, Dirty Bones, Megan’s, Crussh, Butchies, Cocotte, Tossed, and Fresh Fitness Food.

“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; [and] a post-Covid hospitality industry desperate to improve margins but with limited staff availability to facilitate this in-house,” said Collectiv Food founder Jeremy Hibbert-Garibaldi.

“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.”

Björn von Sivers, investment manager at VNV Global, said the firm is “excited to team up with Jeremy and Collectiv Food on their journey to transform Europe’s vast B2B food supply chain market.”

The startup’s “innovative managed marketplace connects a fragmented supply of producers with the very fragmented demand of professional kitchens, creating improved transparency amongst other clear network improvements for all stakeholders,” he added.

“Collectiv Food is our first foray into food distribution, which plays an integral role in [our] mission to build a better and healthier food system,” said VVNP managing partner Matthieu Vermersch.

“The next few years will see far-reaching disruptions in this industry similar to what is already happening with B2C food distribution. Foodservice is a legacy business that has not benefited from innovation yet. We believe that this industry has reached an inflection point where the existing modus operandi will no longer be viable […] To build a healthier and better food system, we not only need full transparency of products, but also a sustainable way of reaching consumers. This is fundamental.”