Recipe box company Gousto has been identified as the fastest growing privately owned food & beverage company in the UK by Alantra in its annual Alantra Food & Beverage Fast 50 report.
Perwyn has led the last three funding rounds in Gousto to support its expansion strategy. Gousto’s growth has accelerated rapidly, with customers attracted to a winning combination of convenience, healthy eating, and a sustainability focus. The Covid-19 crisis has only accelerated these three mega trends.
In its report, Alantra noted that Gousto’s two year growth rate of 89% may even move higher in next year’s Fast 50 report given the company’s stellar performance during the pandemic. It also noted that Gousto’s growth rate is an already impressive reminder of the remarkable potential of the most innovative and well managed businesses in the food & beverage sector.
Timo Boldt, CEO of Gousto, said that: “Health, sustainability and convenience are all accelerating trends with much further to run, and we are highly aligned to those ideals.”
Andrew Wynn, Perwyn Founder and Managing Partner, commented: “We have been incredibly impressed with Gousto’s progress and with the implementation of their growth strategy. One of Perwyn’s core investment themes is technology enabled services, and it is in this arena that Gousto is excelling. Gousto’s focus on innovation has been recognised by Alantra and this is a great endorsement for the company.”
Timo Boldt, Founder and CEO of Gousto, added: “We think of ourselves as a data company that loves food. Around 50% of our workforce are focused on our technology operations. To be recognised by Alantra in their report is further affirmation of the progress we are making.”
Founded in 2012, Gousto pioneered the recipe box offering in the UK. Conceived whilst working long hours in the finance industry, Founder and CEO Timo Boldt, identified a need for convenient and easy to cook recipes that offered exciting variety at home, whilst reducing food waste. Timo realised that the optimal solution required a regular delivery service direct to people’s homes with all of the ingredients provided and already measured out, with easy to follow recipe cards. At the age of 26 Timo quit his job to found Gousto. To help fund the business, Timo moved into student accommodation where he would pack Gousto boxes before hand-delivering them to customers.
Initially funded from his own savings and then followed up with a friends and family round, Gousto has since raised over £155m in equity from leading investors including Perwyn Private Equity, Canaccord Genuity, Unilever Ventures, BGF, MMC Ventures and Joe Wicks – who in addition to being an investor and brand ambassador, also has his own Joe Wicks ‘Lean in 15’ range of recipes on the Gousto menu.
Gousto has achieved rapid growth with its financial success recognised in the Sunday Times Tech Track 100 ranking of Britain’s fastest growing private companies for the last three years. In 2020, Gousto was ranked 257 in the FTs list of Europe’s 1,000 fastest growing Companies.
Gousto’s differentiation to peers lies in its 200+ strong tech team and its focus on data and artificial intelligence, which power all its operations including its automated fulfilment centre Spalding, Lincolnshire and enable its market leading customer proposition – the most recipe choice, at the lowest price, delivered in the shortest lead time. Its intelligent use of data has facilitated the creation of the first recipe box recommendation engine – ‘the Spotify for food’. www.gousto.co.uk
June 2021