Eco-friendly coffee start-up Halo is seeking £1.6m funding to “aggressively” grow the business in the UK and overseas.
Richard Hardwick and David Foster founded the brand in 2016 with a mission to reduce the amount of aluminium and plastic capsules going to landfill sites.
Halo, which launched a range of fully biodegradeable coffee pods in February, is fundraising through private investor platform Growthdeck to keep up with growing demand at home and aboard.
The business is targeting international sales of £30m within three to five years and currently ships to already 28 countries.
Halo said the £1.6m fundraise offers investors the prospect of a 9x return, based on a trade sale in 2021. The business is giving away a 21.6% equity stake in return for the money and has currently raised £242,000.
“We’re offering the market a product that doesn’t currently exist,” Hardwick said. “We are now seeking to raise funds to be able to meet the current market demand and to fulfil growing global interest.”
Halo’s pods, compatible with home Nespresso machines, are the only ones available that are compostable in domestic bins, with capsules launched by rivals only suitable for industrial composting.
The brand has filed an IP application with the UK patent office to protect its technology and is awaiting approval for it to go worldwide.
The capsules, manufactured by a third-party for Halo, retail from £1 to £10 per capsule – the top end being for the kopi luwak capsule
It has also developed Halo Pro, a larger compostable capsule and handle for professional espresso machines in the hospitality industry.
Nearly a third of UK consumers own a coffee pod machine, according to a Harris Interactive poll for The Grocer last year.
Gary Robins, head of investment at Growthdeck, added: “The coffee capsule market is worth nearly £200m in the UK alone, with the global market worth over £10bn. Recent figures show capsule sales will soon overtake standard roast and ground coffee after an increase of 29.5% over the last 12 months.
“Halo is a very exciting entrant to this market – people are increasingly hearing about the horrors of capsules in landfill. It’s a problem that has long needed a solution.
“We are delighted to be backing an excellent management team which is truly steeped in the coffee industry. We expect the funding offer to attract strong interest from investors.”
Growthdeck has raised £7.3m for a range of companies since launching last year. It is similar to other crowdfunding platforms such as Crowdcube and Seedrs but it more focused on sophisticated and high net-worth investors, with minimum single investment of £1,000.
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