Crisp, a fast-growing Amsterdam-based grocery app, has secured the necessary resources to continue building on their mission to deliver better food for the many. The online supermarket that focuses on seasonal and local food, closes a funding round of €35 million, supported by existing as well as new investors, including top Dutch entrepreneurs and family funds.
Supporting investors include some of the best operators in the market like Adriaan Mol (Mollie, Messagebird), John Caspers (Adyen), Sanne Manders (Flexport), Thomas Plantenga (Vinted), as well as seasoned retail executives like Sander van der Laan (Ahold, Action, Douglas) and family offices such as Bookmakers Investments, Timeless Investments and Strikwerda Investments. Also VC’s Keen Ventures and Target Global are again participating in the round.
In an industry marked by limited growth over the past year, Crisp is currently achieving 30% sales growth at significantly improved margins. Launched in 2018, the fresh grocery-app was already profitable at order level in 2020 and expects to break-even before summer in The Netherlands. To further increase its impact, Crisp is currently being audited to become B Corp certified, and will be closing off this year with a fully carbon neutral operation.
Tom Peeters, co-founder and CEO at Crisp, said: “We are proud of this funding round, in the current challenging tech climate. We’ve proven to investors we can stay on course with a healthy product and business model, in a turbulent economy.”
Crisp is using the fresh funding to build a better food system. A fully proprietary software and operations system specifically built for local and seasonal products and the shortest route from farm to fork. Crisp allows country-wide customers to shop from over 900 small-scale suppliers, proving circularity, no waste and responsible farming can have its place in the mass market. To further increase its positive impact, the operations are carbon neutral from next month onwards and Crisp has submitted its B Corp application.
Peeters added: “Building a better food system is one of the biggest challenges of our generation. B Corp, the independent label that assesses strict sustainability criteria, helps us to further institutionalize sustainability into our own operation.”
Against broader market sentiment, Crisp identifies that a growing consciousness amongst consumers can translate into a healthy model to operate. With the broader online market currently flat or in segments even declining, Crisp continues to grow at 30%, at significantly higher margins and supported by a deeply differentiated offering and high customer loyalty.
