Associated British Foods (ABF) has invested in German food start-up KoRo as the company’s Series B funding pot reaches €75m ($82.2m).
A new tranche of investment of €20m into the Series B round comes from new shareholders including Patak’s sauces and Kingsmill bread owner ABF.
Other backers include SevenVentures and the Haub Legacy Ventures fund. KoRo’s existing shareholders are HV Capital, Five Seasons Ventures and Partech.
KoRo, which produces nut butters and snacks, is aiming to use the money raised to accelerate its growth.
It acquired 500,000 new customers throughout 2022 in 17 markets in Europe. The company told Just Food it is not planning on expanding into new markets but rather will look to grow in these markets.
KoRo Co-CEO Piran Asci said: “We want to make Koro ubiquitous, from TV, to out-of-home campaigns, to listing in every supermarket. We will be everywhere, no chance to avoid it.”
COO Florian Schwenkert added: “KoRo is pursuing the goal of becoming the leading omni-channel brand for natural, innovative and high-quality food in the European market. In doing so, we are building a sustainable business model, in order to be prepared for future challenges.”
The Berlin-based start-up’s products are stocked by retailers in Germany, Austria, Italy, Denmark and France among other European countries.
It is aiming for “sustainable profitable growth and a turnover of considerably over €100m in 2023”.
The company told Just Food that it does not expect to require more funding in the near future, but it will “target [additional funding] around next year.”
ABF has been contacted to comment on its investment in KoRo.
