Farmdrop secures £3 million investment

Farmdrop, the online marketplace that enables people to buy fresh food direct from local farmers and producers, has secured £3 million in investment in its latest round of funding led by Atomico.

Founded by former Morgan Stanley stockbroker Ben Pugh, the Bermondsey-based business has grown its customer base by over 230% year-on-year since it launched in 2014 after raising £750,000 investment on crowd-funding platform, CrowdCube.

This latest investment includes funding from a consortium of investors including JamJar Investments, 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, chief executive and founder of Albion, as well as previous angel investors Alex Chesterman, founder of Zoopla, and Quentin Griffiths, co-founder of ACHICA and ASOS.

Pugh said: “Farmdrop is on mission to fix the food chain by making it easy to buy the best food from the best local producers. We believe everyone deserves a more delicious world and this investment will help us continue to improve the product and spread the word about the Farmdrop revolution.”

Niklas Zennstr√∂m, founding partner and chief executive of Atomico, added: “Farmdrop is demonstrating huge ambition by disrupting the established food chain and addressing the growing concerns many of us have about the quality and provenance of our food.”