Supie, the New Zealand-based online supermarket has announced $2.5 million in seed funding, showing that Kiwi investors are prepared to back the future of grocery shopping. With a mission to create a better and fairer grocery alternative, a funding round led by Icehouse and supported by Enterprise Angels, saw support for the start-up pour in.
Founded by Pukekohe local Sarah Balle earlier this year, Supie launched initially to the Auckland region with a full supermarket product range and has quickly become known for its fresh produce, thanks to its direct supply model.
“We are providing a choice for Auckland households to put their hard-earned money into supporting a Kiwi supermarket who genuinely supports New Zealand’s food producers, and we’re humbled to see the amount of interest in Supie. Investors see the value in providing a supplier-friendly, customer-centric approach to food retailing.”
The funding round showed huge interest in the Supie business model, with investors impressed by the company’s long term vision and innovative thinking in the grocery sector.
The round was well over-subscribed at $2.5 million and the new funds will be invested in driving growth through marketing and continuation of innovation through the deployment of technology and customer service enhancement. Marco Marinkovich who is leading Supie’s Marketing and Technology says they were pleased at the result.
“Everything we do at Supie is centred around making it better and fairer for everyday Kiwis and the funds are going towards us continuing to create the new supermarket model, not just rearranging the old way which is clearly broken. Challenges drive innovation and we are motivated to change the way we buy and sell food in New Zealand.”
Supie will remain focused on providing an alternative to the traditional supermarkets, and as highlighted in the Commerce Commision draft findings, this is something that New Zealand consumers are demanding.
The start-up has experienced significant growth since it launched in May, with Supie now delivering a range of over 4,000 products to more than 6,000 members. The growing demand for high-quality produce and a fairer, ethical supply model is seeing Supie meet consumers’ needs. The business has also seen steadfast growth of 1700% per week over Auckland’s most recent lockdown.
