A UK food sector accelerator has relaunched and signalled a deal that will see it working with Australian start-ups.
Grocery Accelerator, trading since 2015, will now be know as Mission Ventures and said it will soon announce international partnerships.
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With an offer to provide “expert business advice, entrepreneurial expertise and financial investment to help innovative food and drink start-up brands achieve growth and entry into UK retail”, Mission Ventures is led by three entrepreneurs from the UK food sector: Plum Baby co-founder Paddy Willis; John Stapleton, co-founder of New Covent Garden Soup and Little Dish; and Nigel Parrott, co-founder of Ape Snacks.
Together they sold their companies for in excess of GBP50m (US$64.5m).
The trio are said to have plans to “align” with corporations, overseas agencies and funds to help small food and drink enterprises grow and achieve their full potential.
Mission Ventures said it will shortly announce new international partnerships and growth strategies. Building on a pilot in 2019, it is “developing opportunities” with the Australian food body FIAL, an industry-led, not for profit organisation focused on growing the share of Australian food in the global marketplace.
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By GlobalDataThe plan is to provide support to a number of brands which wish to expand into the UK market.
Willis said: “The relaunch as Mission Ventures marks the start of a really exciting year ahead. We have already secured four agreements in 2020 with industry and funders to deliver ambitious growth plans for over 20 new challenger brands. The partnership with FIAL acknowledges the value we can add from our collective experience of building and scaling successful brands in the UK.
“We will shortly be announcing a further three very exciting partnerships that not only underpin our growth plans, but reinforces the position we’ve held since 2015 as the UK’s leading food and drink accelerator.”
