"On-demand" supermarket startup raises £1m for London centre

An “on-demand” supermarket has raised £1m in pre-seed funding to launch its first fulfilment centre in London.

Weezy, which aims to deliver groceries in 15 minutes, received the funding from Heartcore Capital, as well as the backers and former executives of Ocado, Tesco, Sainsbury’s Chop Chop and Deliveroo.

The company’s first fulfilment centre, serving customers in Fulham and Chelsea, leads the way for plans to create 15 more in the capital by the end of next year.

Kristof Van Beveren, co-founder and CEO, commented: “We set out to build Weezy in late 2019 having spotted a clear gap in the market for rapid, on-demand delivery of groceries at recommended retail prices.

“During the pandemic, growth in the online grocery shopping sector skyrocketed, with sales for June doubling year-on-year as per data from Barclaycard, while the market is forecast to grow 33 per cent in 2020 according to Mintel.

“We know that people are actively looking for simpler, faster new ways to shop and we’ve seen it first hand: Weezy only just opened for business, and already we’ve had hundreds of signups without having publicised our launch.

“Those signups are more than doubling week on week. In the current climate it has become less viable, and even less appealing, for consumers to visit stores.

“Our hyperlocal fulfilment centre model works since we are able to optimise the space for fast picking and packing while having low property and fit-out costs. This allows us to offer the fastest grocery delivery service in London while keeping prices affordable.”

Heartcore partner Yacine Ghalim added: “We had long been looking to back a company reinventing convenience groceries in our digital age. When we met Kristof and Alec, we were immediately convinced that they not only had the superior model, but most importantly exceptional potential as founders. It was love at first sight.

“This follows our investments in two of Europe’s fastest growing startups in food, online restaurant chain Taster and online organic retailer La Fourche.”