Buymie CEO and co-founder Devan Hughes. Image: Press Eye Photography/Buymie
Now partnering with UK chain Asda, Buymie is still riding on a wave of demand for its services since the onset of the pandemic.
Same-day grocery delivery start-up Buymie has raised €7m in funding to further expand its platform in Ireland and the UK.
The investment was led by Grosvenor Food & AgTech, Act Venture Capital, Sure Valley Ventures, Haatch Ventures and HBAN, with participation from former Unilever chief marketing and communications officer Keith Weed and Buymie chair Eamonn Quinn.
Irish start-up Buymie offers time-pressed customers the services of a personal shopper through its app. The personal shoppers can pick up groceries from local stores, delivering on the same day and in as little as one hour.
Devan Hughes, CEO and co-founder, said that the latest funding follows the successful launch of its newest retail partnership with UK supermarket chain Asda across multiple cities.
“This capital will allow the business to continue its focus on developing best-in-class technology while helping our retail partners transform their online and in-store capabilities to better serve their customers and unlock growth opportunities.”
Founded in 2016, Buymie has now raised a total of €18.2m in funding. It raised more than €8m in 2020 as demand for online deliveries saw a sharp increase in the middle of pandemic lockdowns.
Around the same time, Buymie entered the UK market through a partnership with the Co-op supermarket chain in Bristol. After partnering with Dunnes Stores in Ireland a few months later, opening up its services to hundreds of thousands of people across Dublin and Cork, Buymie launched in Galway and Limerick in May 2021 to reach an additional 190,000 people in the two counties.
Today, Buymie has more than 70 employees and works with more than 400 personal shoppers to meet demand for grocery home delivery services.
The fresh funding will help it expand further in Ireland and the UK – and Buymie said it is considering more than 200 cities for its next move.
“The grocery retail landscape is being transformed by platform technology,” said Weed, who was one of Buymie’s early backers and a board member of Sainsbury’s and WPP.
“It is very clear that the growth and margin opportunities of the future for retailers will be unlocked through capabilities facilitated by businesses and technology like Buymie.”
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