Amsterdam, October 12, 2022: Rockstart, global early stage investor and accelerator, announces its co-investment in Peelo, a Rockstart Agrifood portfolio company. The pre-seed round was led by CB Investment Management alongside Rockstart. The startup plans to use the funding to further develop their products, expand the team, and enter new markets such as Poland, Hungary, Netherlands, and Denmark.
Peelo is the result of searching for a solution to excessive food waste across households and tons of single-use plastics used in our fridges every year. Peelo solves these two problems with one product - a natural, reusable, washable, and compostable alternative to single-use plastics. It protects food and keeps it fresh longer - one piece can substitute over 300 meters of plastic wrap. To take this product from local small-scale production to retail shelves, the team designed and developed a unique technology that automates the production process, speeds it up 10x, and can currently produce over 1/4 of a million units a year.
Since launching their first products in late 2019, the team has acquired over 10000+ customers in just two markets (Slovakia and Czech Republic), selling more than 70k+ units, with over 80% being direct to consumers. The raised funding will be used to enter new European markets, further develop the products, and hire new team members in order to rapidly grow. Until the end of 2022, the company plans to enter 4 markets - Denmark, Netherlands, Poland, and Hungary, with the rest of Europe and larger retail partnerships to follow in 2023.
Navigating the waters of international business is always difficult for a young company with a small team and limited market access. We are thrilled to have found strong partners to join us on this journey and to be able to continue on our mission - CB Investment Management and Rockstart AgriFood - both of which have supported many successful companies in the past, have a rich network of experts to help us on our journey in the coming months, and who have been great partners on a personal level from the start. We are confident that partnering up with funds in our region as well as abroad was the perfect choice for our European expansion.Martina Ivanova, Co-founder, Peelo
We invested in Peelo because of the elegant simplicity of the technology and product. It's great that the product extends the shelf life of perishable produce at home and also cuts down single-use plastic waste. But it's the fact that consumers love to use the product that drives the impact. Martina and Tomas have been able to optimize production and keep European manufacturing competitive on quality and pricing. This new investment will help with entry to new markets and so we are excited to see the Peelo wraps in many households.Mark Durno, Managing Partner AgriFood, Rockstart
„Peelo has generated interesting traction since 2020 and thus showing a demand for this environmentally-based substitution for plastic-made alternatives, even in less eco-wise educated local markets like Czech Republic and Slovakia. It's clear advantage lies in its technology, which allows automated production on a large-scale and provides a potential to expand into B2B sales through white-label services. With its product technology and go-to-market strategy, Peelo has an opportunity to scale outside of the local markets and into the wholesale segment with a potential to gain significant market share in CEE and other EU markets such as Denmark and the Netherlands.Michal Nešpor, Partner, CB Investment Management
The AgriFood fund is Rockstart’s first fund launched in 2019. Rockstart AgriFood has 41 portfolio companies to date, with 37 investments in 2022 alone making Rockstart one of the most active AgriFood investors in the world. The Rockstart AgriFood portfolio companies have collectively raised more than €40m in total thus far.
Peelo is a leading European producer of innovative beeswax food packaging - a reusable, washable and zero-waste substitute of single-use plastics which keeps food fresh longer. It can be used to store and protect a wide range of foods, resulting in less food waste across households. To make this product available on a large scale, the team has designed and developed a technology that automates the production process. Peelo is now used by over 10000+ customers across Europe with a core team based in Slovakia.
CB Investment Management manages an investment fund with assets worth €23.2 m, intended to support young Slovak companies. As an independent subsidiary, it belongs to the Crowdberry investment group. The mission of CB Investment Management is to find and support innovative companies and teams with ambitions to grow internationally and create added value for the domestic economy. The fund under management called CB Growth ONE is financed from resources managed by the Slovak Investment Holding and the fund's own resources. It effectively leverages the experience, expertise and network of contacts of the investment team, as well as the ecosystem of Crowdberry platform, where successful companies can apply for additional capital. CB Investment Management has invested in 29 companies since the launch of their investment fund CB Growth ONE in 2019. The fund’s portfolio includes startups operating in multiple sectors, including FinTech, AgriTech, HealthTech, and ESG, among others. More information at www.crowdberryim.sk.
About Rockstart
Rockstart is an early stage investor that empowers purpose-driven founders across three domains: Energy, AgriFood, and Emerging Technologies.
Rockstart invests in early-stage startups from each of the three funds and provides access to capital, market, and expertise by connecting founders with co-investors, mentors, partners, corporates, and the wider Rockstart network.
Rockstart has invested in more than 350 startups and its alumni value to date is more than €1.6bn. Rockstart is an international team of 45+ professionals dedicated to empowering purpose-driven founders to become scalable and drive positive change on a global scale. Rockstart has notable exits such asWercker, Dan.com, Hubs.Com, Bouw7, iClinic, and s and Brincr. The company has offices in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and Bogota.
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