Searching for Investment in your Food & Beverage business? Our very own expert, Emily Pryor has put together this absolutely must-read list of the top VCs in the field...

Here at Harmonic, we work with a lot of startups! Personally, I head up the Food & Beverages division and I love working in such a vibrant and diverse sector. As providers of top-quality finance professionals, we’re often involved in investment rounds with our clients, and that got us thinking… What can we do to help budding food & beverage disruptors? We decided a nudge in the right direction was the best thing to do! Our list below reflects some of the movers and shakers investing big in our sector - your investor could be in this article, waiting to hand over their cash…

Jam Jar

Jam Jar is an investment company, founded by the guys from Innocent (yes, the tasty smoothies!). Their portfolio includes a number of tech business alongside the food and beverage firms, of which their list of household names is impressive to say the least. Take a look around your office this lunchtime – I bet at least one of your colleagues is chowing down on a product from their portfolio!

Jam Jar invest in both early-stage startups and high-growth behemoths: everything from Seed Capital to Series C; investing between £150k-£1m per round. With the weight of experience behind them, they’re a smart target for any budding food and beverage business.

Portfolio

Propercorn, Farmdrop, Popchips, BOL, Deliveroo and more…

Literacy Capital

Literacy are a closed-end investment fund, offering both PE and VC-type investments. Their focus is on investment in and supporting small, growing UK businesses. As such, their focus isn’t purely on food and beverage but they are currently backing disruptive startups in the industry.

For PE investments, they tend to look businesses that are generating £1-5m of EBITDA… Whereas for VC investments, they look for disruptive businesses generating revenue but they can be pre-profit – as long as they can demonstrate strong growth prospects. So if you’re not a profit machine just yet, there may still be hope for that all-important investment…

Portfolio

Butternut Box, No 1 Rosemary Water

Octopus Ventures

Octopus are one of Europe’s largest VC team, with £1bn currently under management. Self-proclaimed specialists in their field but generalists as a fund, their portfolio is diverse; but there are some recognisable food and beverage brands on the rap sheet.

Their typical investment in recent years has been in the region of £1m for Seed Capital and £4m for Series A. Solid investments for any startup …

Portfolio

graze, Tails, and allplants

Piper

Piper is a specialist PE firm, focused on consumer brands with strong growth potential. Their scope includes retail, leisure and of course, food and beverage. From their base in trendy Notting Hill, their team is made up of former entrepreneurs; people that know the ropes and can bring that experience to your business. The dream!

Their ideal targets have a firm presence in the UK and a turnover of £5m+, in which they typically invest in £5-25 million. £25 million investment would be nice, wouldn’t it?

Portfolio

Propercorn, Barking Heads, Forthglade, Bottle Green, Diet Chef

Inverleith LLP

Inverleith invest in macro trends, focusing on sustainable investments within the mental and physical wellbeing, and lifestyle space – an area they’ve identified as fast growth among savvy Millennials and the rise of DTC startups in the marketplace.

Typically, they invest in businesses that have a revenue of £5m-30m; so perhaps not a prospect for you newbies but a target for the future…

Portfolio

The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, Good Hemp, Emily Crisps

BGF

Claiming to be the UK & Ireland’s ‘most active investor in growing businesses’, BGF are no stranger to the food and beverage industry; working with some niche online and physical retailers (mail-order bodybuilding food, anyone?).

They typically invest in £1-6 million in businesses that they feel they can scale exponentially – and have £2.5bn to invest. If your business is ready for exponential scaling and you’d like a slice of the £2.5bn pie, look no further…

Portfolio- Cooplands, Gousto, Boost Juice Bars, MuscleFood