Retail Business of the Year 2015

Start-up name: Gousto
Founders: Timo Schmidt and James Carter
Started in: 2012
Based in: London
Business description: Recipe box company delivered to your door

Having already taken an admirable second place in this year’s Startups 100 index, Gousto’s unique approach to the burgeoning recipe box market has distinguished it from rivals and helped it secure the coveted Retail Business of the Year at the 2015 Startups Awards.

Founded by 2014 Young Guns Timo Schmidt and James Carter, the company has capitalised on the seismic shift towards online and mobile grocery shopping, allowing customers to choose from a range of specially created meals, which are delivered in exact quantities to minimise wastage.

After bouncing back from rejection in Dragons’ Den to secure £500,000 from food industry veterans, Gousto is now sitting pretty on more than $30m in VC and additional funding and growing revenues by 100% every six months.

With an ever-growing customer base of more than 10,000, an app in beta with Apple and a recent partnership with top chef Theo Randall, the retail company’s ultimate ambition to be recognised as a genuine alternative to supermarkets looks well within reach.

Gousto claimed a well-deserved victory over second place Sportpursuit, a sports apparel flash sales site, and third place Women in Business award winner Swoon Editions, an online handmade furniture company.

The other finalists in the Retail category were CaféPod, which provides coffee capsules for Nespresso machines, craft beer subscription service HonestBrew, and beauty products business My Showcase.