Eco friendly coffee pod firm CRU Kafe brews up £1.25m investment

CRU Kafe, a coffee pod company, has raised £1.25m in seed funding from Seedcamp and fashion entrepreneur Carmen Busquets; co-founder investor and original board director of Net-A-Porter.

Started in 2013 by Colin Pyle, John Quilter and Bodil Blain, CRU Kafe produces organic, ethically sourced and eco-friendly Nespresso-compatible coffee pods.

The company was founded to take advantage of the growing consumer preference for pod coffee over instant, with supermarket sales expected to reach between £373m and £499m by 2020.

CRU claims to have seen 20% month-on-month growth since launch, with revenues rising from £100,000 to £2m.

The funding will fuel international growth, the launch of new products and support the building of a new management team.

Pyles commented: “Globally, sales are worth over $13bn and growing at 15% – double that for ground coffee beans. We’re now selling 500,000 capsules per month and exporting to Hong Kong, the Middle East, North America and the rest of Europe.

“While pods are at the core of the business, we’re diversifying our product range and are now offering our customers bean and ground coffee. In addition we’re close to launching a fully compostable pod.”

Busquets added: “I invested in CRU because as a company they embody all the things I care about. The best quality coffee from around the world that’s organic, fair trade and delivered to your door in an eco friendly Nespresso-compatible pod. This has proven so successful for them that they have now started selling their coffee in beans and ground coffee.”