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SERVICES: SNAPPY SHOPPER SERIES A FUNDRAISER

Snappy raises £19.4m, including £6.6m from PayPoint

DUNDEE-BASED HOME DELIVERY PLATFORM HAS RAISED OVER £19M IN A SERIES A FUNDRAISER, INCLUDING A SUBSTANTIAL INVESTMENT FROM PAYPOINT

The Snappy Group, owners of the Snappy Shopper home delivery platform, has announced that it has raised £19.4m in its Series A fundraise round. That figure includes a substantial £6.6m strategic investment from PayPoint as well as investments from Highland Tech, Justin King, Maven Capital Partners, Kelvin Capital and Scottish Enterprise. Mercia Asset Management previously provided the Company with funds and remains an investor.

PayPoint CEO Nick Wiles, Lord Laidlaw of Highland Tech and Frank Skivington, formerly of Skyscanner, join the Board as Non-Executive Directors alongside Board Advisers Justin King, former Sainsbury’s CEO, and and Gordon Blair, former F1 team director.

The investments are expected to create 400 new jobs over the next three years as the rapidly expanding company invests in people, technology, partner services and marketing. Snappy Shopper currently has 90 employees.

The company has revealed that it has seen a 16% increase in total sales in the past four weeks to 21 May compared with the same four weeks in January. Annualised sales for the group is £132m.

It was also revealed that Snappy has grown from 220 to 1,540 business partners since December 2019, and to more than 1 million users across the UK. The company aims to continue that growth as part of its new three year plan with the recently announced partnership with PayPoint alone enabling thousands of PayPoint retailers to implement its home delivery and click and collect solutions through the PayPoint One Epos system.

Mike Callachan, CEO and co-founder of the Snappy Group, said: “Demand for the fundraise exceeded our expectations and we are pleased to have attracted such high-profile investors and advisers. The proceeds will significantly accelerate our next phase of growth across the UK, including investments in new services for our retail and hospitality partners and new hires across the business.

“Post lockdown the demand for home delivery and the desire to shop locally is greater than ever, but the increasing number of anonymous dark stores is a threat to local businesses and communities, which must not be underestimated. We are well placed to empower local business to offer another great service to their customers, and better compete in this fast-changing retail market.”

“Snappy has grown from 220 to 1,540 business partners since December 2019 and to more than 1 million users across the UK.”

Nick Wiles, Chief Executive of PayPoint, said: “We’re delighted to be investing into the Snappy Shopper business, building on the partnership that we announced recently to integrate their home delivery and click and collect technology with our own. This investment will enable PayPoint and our network of convenience retailer partners to remain at the forefront of retail and consumer trends.”

Justin King, investor and advisor to the Board, added: “The Snappy Group is ideally placed to provide local shop owners with a cost-effective and professional home delivery service. Our focus on community stores and local businesses is a key differentiator, driven by local customers and tailored ranges. Community stores are brilliant distribution centres whose importance has only been magnified during the Covid-19 pandemic.”

Nisa retailers smash £100k a week Deliveroo barrier

Nisa retailers using the Deliveroo app smashed through the £100,000 weekly sales barrier last week as the fine weather and the final stages of the European football championship saw shoppers step up their purchases.

Currently more than 90 Nisa partners use Deliveroo, one of Nisa’s official delivered services partners, with more retailers signing up to the service every week.

In the run-up to the weekend, sales comfortably beat sales of £100,000 with customer demand growing for a delivery solution.

Paul Cornell, owner of Nisa Local Chelmsford, signed up for Deliveroo before the pandemic and has experienced a strong growth in sales via the app.

He said: “About 10% of our turnover now comes from Deliveroo and it certainly has opened up a new market to us.

“Our Deliveroo drivers often pass three or four larger supermarkets to get to us and without a doubt, those customers would not have come to our store, so we are able to capture them via the app.

“We set up a few years ago before Christmas, thinking people would mostly use us when they ran out of alcohol for example, but it has become a really strong part of our business and there are now around 600 lines across all categories available via the app.”