Foodscovery, a Pescara, Italy-based online and mobile platform to acquire Made-in-Italy food products directly from producers, raised €800k in funding.
Backers included publisher Editoriale Il Fatto (€250k/owning a 7% stake), FI.R.A. (€300k/today owning 29,6%, having previosly made a €500k investment), AIM Italia-listed Digital Magics (3%) and business angels Claudio Di Zanni (2,6%) and Rosario Didonna (0,8%).
The company intends to use the funds to consolidate its market position in Italy by launching a new version of the web site and increasing the number of producers selling on the platform, grow the team with a designer, a sales professional, an accountant/business analyst, SEM and SEO specialist, and to expand abroad, firstly in the UK.
Founded in 2014 by Fabio Di Gioia and Mario Sorbo (who currently owns 41% stake in total), Foodscovery is a platform that allows small Made-in-Italy food producers to sell and deliver products in 24/48 hours. Currently, the marketplace catalog includes 1.500 items from local bakeries, butcheries, cheese and pastry factories, etc.
For Editore il Fatto, the strategic investment aims to diversify and integrate its traditional publishing business with a new digital platform, which will allow readers to read about products’ features, producers’stories and local traditions on Il Fatto Quotidiano and buy products on Foodscovery
Incubated within Digital Magics, the company currently has 12 employees and also has German publisher Axel Springer among shareholders.
FinSMEs
16/02/2016