Press release -
KoRo, the better for you food brand successfully raised a €20m extension that brought its total Series B to €75m
- Despite the challenging environment for fundraising, the omnichannel food brand KoRo Handels GmbH (KoRo) receives once again an investment of €20m from new shareholders SevenVentures, Associated British Foods, and the Haub Legacy Ventures as well as its existing shareholders (HV Capital, Five Seasons Ventures and Partech)
- Goal: To accelerate the growth of KoRo in Europe with its offering of innovative and better for you food both through online and offline channels.
- The business grew top line revenue by 45% YoY, bucking the trend of e-commerce in 2022; this strong and profitable growth led to an increase in the valuation of the company, from its last round 12 months ago.
KoRo, which was recently listed by the Financial Times, as one of the fastest growing e-commerce businesses in Europe*, received a funding of €20m. In this financing round, new shareholders SevenVentures, Associated British Foods and Family Office Haub Legacy participated with existing shareholders HV Capital, Five Seasons Ventures and Partech.
The extension of the initial Series B round of €55m – which closed in Q1 2022 – brings the total financing to €75m. This will allow KoRo to further accelerate its direct-to-consumer online growth and to expand its retail listings throughout Europe, delivering a true omnichannel brand experience. KoRo will continue to focus growth in established markets in the DACH region and further international expansion to high-potential regions like France, Italy and Scandinavia.
"Thanks to the capital injection and privileged access to mass market media via one of our new investors SevenVentures, we want to make Koro ubiquitous: from TV, to Out of Home campaigns, to listing into every supermarket. We will be everywhere, no chance to avoid it”, says KoRo Co-CEO Piran Asci.
KoRo proudly acquired around 500,000 new customers throughout 2022 in 17 markets with its innovative and better for you food products such as nut butters, snacks and superfoods. Just recently, KoRo’s vegan and gluten-free oat bar was listed in all on-board bistros of Deutsche Bahn, the largest long-distance transport provider in Germany. In addition, the KoRo Protein Bar Deluxe filled with pistachio butter is constantly a best seller in Germany's largest drugstore group dm.
"KoRo is pursuing the goal of becoming the leading omnichannel brand for natural, innovative and high-quality food in the European market. In doing so, we are building a sustainable business model, in order to be prepared for future challenges", says KoRo COO Florian Schwenkert.
"Despite the uncertain economic situation, we were able to further grow in 2022 and are aiming for sustainable profitable growth and a turnover of considerably over €100m in 2023. Receiving further financing from existing and even new investors is a great sign of confidence for us, especially given the challenging environment for fundraising", adds KoRo CFO Daniel Kundt.
“With our wide-reaching digital and TV channels of ProSiebenSat.1 Group, we will help KoRo to increase brand awareness and to reach an even broader target group. In this way, we can drive KoRo’s sustainable growth and promote further distribution of the products in retail. We look forward to working in partnership with the KoRo Team,” says Florian Hirschberger, CEO SevenVentures.
KoRo aims to provide access, for everyone, to innovative and high-quality food. This is possible because of transparent supply chains for organic and vegan products, efficient logistic processes and simply designed bulk packaging enabling KoRo to save on transport and packaging-related emissions. KoRo manages to negotiate fair prices with suppliers and, at the same time, save 57t of plastic packaging last year and the team plans to introduce its first plastic-free packaging range in the snack category.
Pictures and logos here.
* https://www.ft.com/content/bf0f2e9e-d396-4c6a-abec-be33ec01995c
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About KoRo
KoRo stands for high-quality and innovative food products at fair prices. The company KoRo was founded in Berlin in 2014 and built up by Constantinos Calios and Piran Asci. In 2020, Florian Schwenkert has joined the management team. KoRo now employs around 260 people. The assortment of KoRo can be found on KoRo’s own website with integrated online store, in thousands of retail stores and other online shops. KoRo operates in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
www.korodrogerie.de/en
About SevenVentures
SevenVentures is the leading TV media investor and, as a company in the Commerce & Ventures segment of ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE, the optimal partner for high-growth consumer-centric companies, especially in the consumer goods, retail and services sectors, whose sustained success is likely to be stimulated by TV advertising: In return for shares in their equity (media-for-equity) or revenue (media-for-revenue), companies primarily receive advertising slots on ProSiebenSat.1’s stations. In the Commerce & Ventures segment, ProSiebenSat.1 bundles the Group's minority and majority investment areas. In addition to SevenVentures with the SevenAccelerator, this also includes SevenGrowth and the companies of NuCom Group.
www.sevencommerceandventures.com
About Haub Legacy Ventures
Haub Legacy Ventures is an investment company of the single-family office of the Haub family from Cologne (formerly Tengelmann).
About Associated British Foods
Associated British Foods is a diversified international food, ingredients and retail group with sales of £17bn and 132,000 employees in 53 countries. It has significant businesses in Europe, Africa, the Americas, Asia and Australia. Our aim is to achieve strong, sustainable leadership positions in markets that offer potential for long-term profitable growth. We look to achieve this through a combination of growth of existing businesses, acquisition of complementary new businesses and achievement of high levels of operating efficiency.
www.abf.co.uk
About HV Capital
Since 2000 HV Capital has invested in Internet and technology companies through various generations of funds and is one of the most successful and financially strongest early-stage and growth investors in Europe. HV Capital has already invested in around 225 companies, including Zalando, Delivery Hero, FlixMobility, Depop and SumUp. The company supports startups with capital ranging between €500,000 and €50 million. This makes HV Capital one of the few venture capitalists in Europe that can finance startups through all growth phases.
www.hvcapital.com
About Five Seasons Ventures
Five Seasons Ventures is the first European impact venture fund focused on sustainable food and foodtech brands. The fund has >€250m assets under management and currently invested in 18 companies across 5 countries. A snapshot of investments: Just Spices (exited to Kraft Heinz in 2021), Air Up, Butternut Box, and YFood. FSV brings deep expertise of the food value chain, digitally native food brands, and e-grocery.
www.fiveseasons.vc
About Partech
Born in San Francisco 40 years ago and now headquartered in Paris, Partech is one of the most active global tech investors in the world, bringing together capital, operational experience, and strategic support for entrepreneurs at seed, venture and growth stages. The firm manages €2.5B and its current portfolio includes more than 240 companies across 40 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and the US.
www.partechpartners.com
Do you have an enquiry, are you interested in an interview, or do you need further material? Please feel free to contact us!
KoRo Handels GmbH
Natalie Wendt
KoRo Handels GmbH | Hauptstr. 26 | 10827 Berlin
presse@korodrogerie.de | + 49 [0] 151 42051506
SevenVentures
Patrick Schmid | Hannah Knarr
Communication Commerce & Ventures
ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE | Medienallee 7 | 85774 Unterföhring
Patrick.Schmid@prosiebensat1.com | Hannah.Knarr@prosiebensat1.com
+49 [0]89 9507-2446 | +49 [0] 175 1815767
