From left: Buymie CTO Art Sokhikyan and CEO Devan Hughes. Image: Buymie
As it expands into the UK, Irish grocery delivery start-up Buymie has announced that it raised €5.8m in funding.
Dublin-based same-day grocery delivery start-up Buymie has raised an additional €5.8m in funding, bringing the total raised by the company this year to more than €8m.
This round of funding follows a €2.2m investment announced in April, and was led by new investor Wheatsheaf Group, which is the food and agriculture investment arm of the Grosvenor Estate.
There was also follow-on investment from existing backers, including Act Venture Capital, Sure Valley Ventures, Haatch Ventures and the Halo Business Angel Network (HBAN). Other notable investors include former Unilever chief marketing and communications officer Keith Weed and e-commerce entrepreneur Scott Weavers-Wright.
Funding plans
Buymie said that the new funding will drive national and international expansion, allowing the company to focus on its mission of reducing the environmental impact of grocery shopping. It wants to limit the use of secondary plastic packaging, reduce private car journeys and design incentive programmes to help facilitate a switch to electric vehicles.
Buymie co-founder and CEO Devan Hughes said that the funding round will help the start-up achieve its goal of becoming one of the top same-day grocery delivery providers in the UK and Ireland.
“More and more customers are frustrated by the long waiting times offered by conventional grocery delivery services and delighted with our solution that can deliver groceries in as little as one hour.”
Over the last 18 months, the start-up has expanded its business to meet the increasing demand for grocery home delivery, a trend that has accelerated dramatically during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In April, Buymie signed a multi-year partnership with Lidl, extending its service to more shoppers around Ireland. The company also announced a deal with UK supermarket Co-op in May, which marked its first move outside the Irish market.
The start-up said that these partnerships enable supermarkets to compete with the likes of Amazon, which also is aiming to lead in same-day grocery delivery services.
