Grind secures £22m investment to fund international expansion

Coffee chain Grind has raised £22m investment off the back of ‘explosive’ growth of its at-home coffee products during the coronavirus lockdowns.

The company, founded in London’s Shoreditch in 2011 by David Abrahamovitch and Kaz James, will use the funding to grow its consumer coffee pod business in the UK and expand in the US and Europe from 2022.

The funding has been led by entrepreneur Richard Koch, founder of L.E.K consulting and the first investor in Betfair.

Grind already runs seven London cafés and signed a global partnership to supply coffee to Soho House & Co in 2020.

It saw a spike in sales for its at-home coffee pods during the pandemic and moved into a 15,000 sq ft coffee roasting facility in Bermondsey earlier this year to keep up with demand. The group expects to ship 30 million coffee pods this and year and for sales to exceed £20m for the first time.

Abrahamovitch said: “It’s amazing to reflect on how the little coffee shop we opened a decade ago has evolved into such a recognisable brand, enjoyed by our customers around the world.

“Each year, we serve hundreds of thousands of coffee lovers through our London stores, and through our compostable coffee pods we’ve now found a way that we can take the Grind coffee experience into the homes of millions more around the world.

“Richard and his team share our vision to build Grind into the world’s leading premium at-home coffee brand. We can’t wait to start investing further into the business here and abroad. I can’t wait to see where we’ll be in another decade.”

Grind crowdfunded £1.3m in 2015 to begin its expansion, followed by a £2.1m equity raise in 2017 and a £3.4m equity raise in 2019.