Timo Schmidt and James Carter: Gousto

Timo Schmidt and James Carter, both 29
Company: Gousto
Web: www.gousto.co.uk

Only launched in 2012, Timo Schmidt and James Carter’s Startups 100-listed food delivery start-up Gousto is the company on everyone’s lips after the pair walked away from Dragons’ Den empty-handed – only to have the last laugh when they concluded a £500,000 investment deal from major players in the food industry just weeks later. Gousto’s service allows customers to order ingredients delivered in their exact quantities from a list of recipes on the site, allowing them to broaden their culinary horizons whilst eliminating the persistent problem of food wastage – whilst Gousto itself saves money by ordering the ingredients in bulk.

With the shift from offline to online food buying now estimated at 20% per year, Gousto is perfectly placed to exploit this, following an additional $300,000 investment from former BskyB managing director Ian West and Rothschild vice-chairman Andrea Raffel – with more than 10,000 customers to date, it is one of the leaders in the rapidly emerging recipe delivery sector. The ambitious pair plan to more than double their multi-million pound turnover in 2014, so it seems clear that Gousto has all the ingredients necessary for success.