20. Pact Coffee

Founder: Stephen Rapoport
Founded: September 2012
Website: www.pactcoffee.com

These days it seems every other shop is a café offering quality, fairtrade coffee. But it’s difficult to find that same freshness and quality from local shops or supermarkets. Founder of Pact Coffee and seasoned entrepreneur Stephen Rapoport (Pact is his fourth start-up) decided to solve this problem for fellow coffee connoisseurs with a service that delivers fresh roasted coffee through their letterbox.

The business works on a flexible subscription model, with coffee posted first class to any UK address at £6.95 per bag (or £8.95 for limited edition coffees). Rapoport says that he first started out to stop people running out of great coffee, but then discovered the “bigger opportunity of helping people drink great coffee in the first place. And then stopping them run out.” The coffee service is also to be commended for its direct link with its farmers, paying above the Fairtrade rate and encouraging good production practices so they can charge a higher price on the open market.

Over the next year Pact hopes to continue its 20% month-on-month growth and aims to be able to directly source 100% of its coffee, making its supply chain more efficient. With £2m backing from investors including Connect Ventures, Index Ventures and MMC Ventures and plans to raise a further round shortly, Rapoport’s ambitious goal of “making 10 million people smile every morning” could well be within reach.