True has successfully exited from its investment in London-based food startup City Pantry, following the business’ acquisition by FTSE 100 company, Just Eat, the global online food delivery marketplace.
True was the company’s first institutional investor in 2015, and it was where City Pantry grew from a startup within our innovation Hub in Victoria, London. Disrupting an industry as established as office catering saw the business transform the way employees eat by bringing food from exciting local caterers and restaurants direct to offices, covering events, meetings, and team meals. The company also focused on the growing demand from employees for greater workplace wellbeing; and for employers to offer more than just a good salary. This clear identification of a sector ripe for disruption saw City Pantry achieve growth, year-on-year.
Since True’s investment, the startup has closed a number of funding rounds, all of which were supported by True and most recently closed a Series A investment, led by Octopus Investments.
Stuart Sunderland, CEO and founder, City Pantry: “Today’s acquisition by a FTSE 100 listed company is testament to the belief, dedication and hard work of the entire City Pantry team and supporters over the years. I am incredibly grateful to all the investors that have backed the business since its inception. Since setting out on our journey with True, as our first institutional investor, we have been able to execute on our growth strategy and harness True’s network of sector specialist investors, advisers and industry executives to springboard our growth.”
Paul Cocker, True’s co-founder: “I am delighted for Stuart and the hugely talented team that he has built that he has been able to secure such a high profile acquirer for the business in such a short space of time. It is great reward for all the hard work and dedication that we have witnessed over the last few years. City Pantry was one of the first investments we made shortly after launching True and it is fantastic to see the vast potential that we saw in both the business and the team being realised. I am looking forward to continuing to work with the City Pantry team and seeing the company make even deeper strides into the online food delivery marketplace sector as part of Just Eat.”
Founded in 2013 by Stuart Sunderland, City Pantry serves 120,000 people at 1000 corporate customers every month, including Google, Amazon, PayPal, Slack, Spotify and Unilever. It works with hundreds of suppliers, including branded restaurant groups such as Itsu, Leon and Bill’s to provide meals for corporate events or business meetings.