Five Seasons et al. back Just Spices series-B

Just Spices plans to use the investment to expand its team, and to consolidate and grow its market position in Germany. The company also aims to expand to new markets, including Europe and North America, and plans to invest in its data collection and analysis capabilities regarding relevant food market trends, to enhance its product range.

The round also saw participation from Bitburger Ventures, the venture arm of Germany-based brewery group Bitburger. The firm participates in seed to series-B investments, targeting sectors including food, beverages, e-commerce and online platforms. It invests €500,000-10m per round for a 5-25% stake.

Five Seasons Ventures focuses on investments in the food industry, committing €2-4m as an initial investment, in exchange for a significant minority stake and generally as part of a syndicate. The firm invests up to €12m in each company and only invests in equity or equity-like instruments.

The investment in Just Spices marks Five Seasons Ventures' second investment in a Germany-based food startup within a year, according to Unquote Data. In June 2019, the firm also participated in the €4.2m series-A round for YFood, a company that provides balanced meals in drink format.

New York-based investor Coefficient Capital targets companies in the consumer goods industry with revenues of several million dollars, making initial investments of $5-10m.

Previous funding
In August 2018, BWK provided Just Spices with a growth capital investment. BWK generally invests €5-70m in medium-sized companies with a minimum turnover of €15m.

Company
Just Spices sells spices, spice mixtures and cooking kits via its online marketplace. The company splits its spice mixtures into a number of categories, including breakfast, meat, salad, dressings and baking. In 2018 it launched In Minutes, a range of meal preparation kits including curries and pasta dishes designed to enable users to prepare meals quickly by adding a small number of additional fresh ingredients. Just Spices produces content including recipes and podcasts, and also offers a mobile app.

Based in Düsseldorf and founded in 2014, Just Spices has a headcount of 73. More than 60% of its turnover is generated online. It reported revenues of €10m in 2017.

People
Just Spices – Florian Falk, Ole Strohschnieder, Bela Seebach (founders).

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• Topics
• Expansion
• DACH
• Consumer
• Venture
• Germany