KoRo, a Berlin-based e-commerce company, has secured €20 million in an extension round, bringing the Series B round total to €75 million.
The round was participated by new shareholders SevenVentures (also backed Sanity Group), Associated British Foods, and Family Office Haub Legacy, along with existing shareholders HV Capital, Five Seasons Ventures, and Partech.
The funding announcement comes on the heels of closing €55 million in Q1, 2022.
How will the funding be used?
This additional funding will allow KoRo to accelerate its direct-to-consumer online growth and expand its retail listings throughout Europe, creating a true omnichannel brand experience.
KoRo will continue to focus on growth in established markets in the DACH region, as well as expand to high-potential regions such as 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 in every supermarket. We will be everywhere, no chance to avoid it”, says KoRo Co-CEO Piran Asci.
Access to innovative and high-quality foods
Founded in 2014 by Constantinos Calios and Piran Asci, KoRo aims to provide access to innovative and high-quality food.
The company achieves this through transparent supply chains for organic and vegan products, efficient logistics processes, and simply designed bulk packaging that enables KoRo to save on transport and packaging-related emissions.
In 2022, KoRo acquired around 500,000 new customers in 17 markets with its innovative and better-for-you food products, such as nut butter, snacks, and superfoods.
The company’s vegan and gluten-free oat bar was recently listed in all on-board bistros of Deutsche Bahn, while its KoRo Protein Bar Deluxe filled with pistachio butter is consistently a best-seller in Germany’s largest drugstore group, dm.
The assortment of KoRo can be found on KoRo’s own website with an 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.
Currently, the company employs 260 people.
“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.
Source: https://techfundingnews.com/koros-better-for-you-snacks-and-superfoods-vision-gets-e20m-backing/
