Business Angels Europe’s partner Doorway platform, an innovative fintech enterprise that collaborates with the most important Italian business angels clubs, like Italian Angels for Growth (IAG) and Angels4Impact, has launched a fundraising campaign for a company with a very strong mission: to reduce waste already upstream in the supply chain, directly in the fields.
Its name is Babaco Market: a subscription delivery service which brings home to consumers boxes of fruit and vegetables that for small aesthetic defects do not fall within the standards of traditional production channels and therefore risk being wasted.
Through a structured and codified process that makes use of best practices from the venture capital world, Doorway has identified Babaco Market among the best projects on the market, recognizing characteristics of high value. The ongoing fundraising campaign for Babaco Market will close on March 31 and has already garnered a significant commitment from the Doorway community and the business angels of Angels4Impact.
The first italian anti-waste e-grocery
Through this innovate service provided on a weekly or bi-weekly subscription basis, this food delivery startup is transforming the fruits and vegetables that large retailers normally discard into a precious resource in an effort to reduce food waste.
In Europe, 26.4 million tons of food are wasted every year. It is also estimated that 10% of the total environmental impacts of the food production chain are attributable to food waste (source: FUSIONS, Reducing food waste through social innovation).
“Babaco was born to solve this problem. The objective is reduce food waste through an innovative e-grocery channel. We enhance all those products that today do not find a commercial release because they are in overproduction or because do not respect the aesthetic canons required by traditional distribution channels, despite being qualitatively excellent.”
- Francesco Giberti (CEO and Co-Founder Babaco Market)
The potential of Babaco Market
The adoption of e-grocery shopping habits has skyrocketed during the pandemic period. According to McKinsey, this trend of general e-commerce proliferation is expected to grow further during the forecast period 2021-2025.
Furthermore, the global subscription e-commerce market is forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 75% during the forecast period from 2022-2030.
These trends give an idea of the high growth potential of Babaco Market. In just one years, the company has increased its value by 6.8x YoY.
Doorway has selected Babaco Market not only for its high exit potential, but also for the ability to create value for society, in line with the goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.
Indeed, Doorway is the first Fintech and the only Equity Investing platform in Italy to have adopted the legal status of Benefit Society and the first to systematically integrate the analysis of compliance with ESG criteria within the deal selection process, placing it alongside the business criteria.
Already all the companies in which Doorway has invested through its community of investors, have a very precise placement on global sustainability goals. All have stated sustainability goals, while some have made it the focus of their success.
“Attention to sustainability performance is increasingly in the sights of institutional investors, who consider the adoption of ESG indicators as a qualifying and, at times, discriminating element in their investment strategies.”
- Antonella Grassigli, CEO and Co-founder of Doorway
Round Details
Babaco has opened a seed round of up to 2.5 million led by CDP Venture Capital, asset management company which aims to make Venture Capital a strategic pillar to Italy's economic growth and innovation. Whit a pre-money valuation of 7.000.000 euros this round has already committed up to 60% of the Total Investment Amount by co-investors such as: Boost Heroes, Plug and Play, LVenture, Seven Investments. The operation coordinated by Doorway will be closed by March.
New financial resources will support development plans including the national expansion and the development of a new B2B model, an additional high-potential sales channel.
BAE is pleased to share this valuable investment opportunity and to collaborate with a partner which, in addition to the profit goals common to all businesses, pursues the goal of making a positive impact on society and the biosphere. Doorway has also proven that its digital service and model work seamlessly with the activities of a business angels clubs, facilitating cross border investing.
The fintech platform has conveyed over 15 million Euros on 22 deals that have demonstrated high scalability and a solid business model, also thanks to the agreements with the main Italian Business Angels clubs. Now is looking to internationalize and to work together with other members of BAE.
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