The rapidly growing Swiss online market Farmy has secured around €9.2 million in a further financing round from impact investing fund Triodos Organic Growth Fund and other investors.
Founded in 2014, Farmy is an online market for transparent and sustainable weekly shopping, directly from the producer. Farmy offers over 12,500 mainly organic hand-picked products from more than 1,000 authentic producers, and, thanks to its smart logistics and own fleet and e-mobiles, delivers these goods incomparably fresh, emission-reduced and time-saving directly to users’ front doors – with its own fleet of e-mobiles. In the metropolitan regions of Zurich and Lake Geneva delivery is even free of charge. Products include fruits and vegetables, cheeses from Swiss dairies, meat, delicacies and sweet temptations from real bakers and confectioners, as well as pantry and drugstore items.
In the first half of 2020, Farmy increased its sales by 160% compared to the previous year. With sales of around €10.6 million in this period, the young company further strengthened its position as the third largest online food shop in Switzerland.
During this round, Farmy added Triodos Organic Growth Fund as an investor. The fund provides long-term mission-aligned private equity to European frontrunners in the sustainable food sector and will act as the new lead investor at Farmy. “Farmy has been able to build a very impressive company with a strong sustainability impact in recent years. Farmy sets new standards in the regional food supply chain and we are looking forward to actively contribute to the further growth and strategic development of Farmy ”, states Isabelle Laurencin, Principal Investment Manager from Triodos Organic Growth Fund.
Farmy also gained several private investors from new and existing investor circles to secure the financing of the company in the future. One of these private investors is Thomas Harttung, co-founder of Aarstiderne, a Danish online provider of organic meal-box solutions.
Co-founder and co-CEO of Farmy, Tobias Schubert commented: “As a strongly mission-driven company, we are proud to be backed by such a highly respected and especially sustainable institutional investor like Triodos Organic Growth Fund. We are fully convinced that together we will create much more value for all stakeholders of Farmy focusing on further growth by following our mission of a greener way of eating.”
In particular, Farmy will use the investment to expand its own fleet of electric vehicles as well as the delivery areas, the warehouse and further investment in its in-house IT alongside marketing efforts. Farmy is increasingly acting as an IT service provider, enabling food producers, associations as well as offline food retailers to digitalise their offering.
Farmy not only provides the storefronts but, as IT service provider, also the systems behind them to manage the fulfilment and delivery of fresh food along the entire value chain. The first customers to use these services are the producer Jucker Farm and the major Swiss organic label “Bio Suisse”. Roman Hartmann, Co-founder and co-CEO of Farmy, Tobias Schubert, explained more: “Over the last 6 years we have become an expert in e-food and built a unique IT infrastructure. Even though the customers’ willingness to shop groceries online is growing rapidly – boosted additionally by Covid-19 – there is an extreme lack of e-food expertise in the market.” Strategically, Farmy will continue to grow this area as a second mainstay.
