Farmy, a Swiss online market and B Corp, announced the successful close of its €10.7 million financing round. The fresh capital comes mainly from existing investors, but also from new investors who support Farmy and believe in the success of the company, whose core strengths continue to include its sustainability, transparency and close relationships with Swiss farmers and small and medium-sized food producers from the region. Farmy intends to use the new capital to invest further in growth so that the company is financed until break-even. This is planned for 2025.
As part of the financing round, the company’s valuation had to be lowered by 75 %, which is in line with the current trend in the market towards lower valuations for online retailers and start-ups. The prospects for a renewed increase in the valuation are good. The Zurich hub is already making a profit operationally and covers all monthly fixed and variable costs of the logistics centre.
Until the end of October, the managing directors of Farmy AG have the opportunity to raise up to €5.6 million in additional capital, at the same conditions. The crowdinvestors who joined in autumn 2022 had the opportunity to invest pro rata in order to be able to maintain their stake in the company.
Dominique Locher, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Farmy AG, sees the successful conclusion as confirmation: “It is a strong sign of Farmy’s success that many of our existing investors continue to back us and once again express their fullest confidence in us through their investment. We are very pleased about this. At the same time, we are aware that the path to profitability is a challenge. But I am looking forward to mastering it together with a super committed and motivated team.”
Founded in 2014, Farmy’s focus continues to be on Switzerland, both in terms of the expansion of its delivery areas and with regard to its more than 1,200 producers and suppliers. At the same time, following the inclusion of the full Alnatura range, the brands of large-scale international producers that are popular with consumers have now also been added to the range.
As a result, in addition to numerous fruits and vegetables, fresh bread and pastries from eight regional bakeries and confectioners, the widest selection of cheese and dairy products from Swiss farmers, meat from eleven butchers, fresh fish and seafood just like at a Mediterranean fish market, as well as flowers and wine, customers can now also order a selected range from big brands at Farmy. Thanks to Farmy, the complete weekly shopping is made even more uncomplicated and transparent, all in one place – customers save themselves the time-consuming trips to the bakery, the butcher’s shop, the farm shop, the Alnatura Bio Market, the weekly market and the supermarket.
With these achievements and concrete measures for the coming period, the founders and co-CEOs Roman Hartmann and Tobias Schubert are positive about the future. “We are firmly convinced that we will soon return to the path of growth,” explains Schubert. In doing so, the company continues to rely on its innovative strength: Farmy has been successfully anticipating and responding to social trends since the beginning of the company’s history. “As we always say: The trends are Farmy’s friends!”, adds Schubert. After all, conscious, high-quality nutrition continues to be important for Swiss men and women, and the shift from offline to online grocery shopping is unstoppable – it is just getting started, in fact.
Read the orginal article: https://www.eu-startups.com/2023/07/swiss-online-farmers-market-farmy-harvest-e10-7-million-to-achieve-break-even-by-2025/
