Cult London hospitality brand, Grind has announced a newly agreed £4.6m funding package with HSBC, following its £3.4m Crowdcube equity raise earlier this year.
Now crowdfunding veterans, in 2015 Grind launched on the platform for the first time, hitting the headlines when it raised £1.3m from 447 investors to fund its first coffee roastery and further locations in London. Grind will repay these early investors in full next week - after four years, one year ahead of the bonds’ expiry.
Following the launch of the Greenwich site in late 2018, and its latest spot in Liverpool, earlier this year, Grind has grown to eleven locations in London with lots more in the pipeline.
In the next six months Grind will open Southbank Grind, just behind the London Eye, and will begin its rollout in travel hubs with franchise partners SSP, opening Grinds in London Bridge, Victoria and Waterloo stations.
These new locations will give Grind a presence at all four of the British capital’s busiest stations. Further down the line, Grind will open in Canary Wharf in 2021 and plans to keep growing to 21 company-owned and 15 franchised locations by 2022.
Grind Founder & CEO, David Abrahamovitch said, “The support of our original bondholders was a pivotal part of our journey, amplifying the brand and allowing us to build our first coffee roastery and continue our expansion across London. Back then, we only had a few locations and these bondholders took a risk in backing us, and I’m extremely grateful to those who did.
'Thanks to the continued support of our banking partners HSBC, I’m delighted that today we are repaying their investment in full, and earlier than planned. With HSBC’s support, plus our recent £3.4m crowdfunding equity campaign, we are stronger than ever, with the funding we need to execute our plan and keep growing across London and beyond.”
Crowdcube co-founder, Luke Lang said, “Grind's 2015 bond offering, the first of their three high-profile raises totalling £6.8m on the Crowdcube platform, set the bar for British businesses raising money from the crowd. We've been delighted to support Grind through their growth over the last four years, and to see the Grind bondholders repaid early and in full.'
Anthony Reed, HSBC’s Head of Corporate Banking, commented, “Grind is a brand we have come to know very well, and admire, over our five-year relationship with the business and the team. Grind is a stand out in the sector, with a clearly differentiated proposition across multiple channels. We are delighted to be building once again on our relationship with the business, and to continue to support Grind’s expansion.”
Since its first crowdfunding campaign in 2015, Grind has returned to the crowd twice; with a record- breaking £2.1m equity raise in 2017, and a £3.4m raise in April 2019.
Earlier this year, Grind relocated its coffee roasting to a new space in Elephant and Castle. Grind’s new roastery has seven times the capacity of its old facility, which will support the growing demand for coffee from its stores and retail range.
The range includes the hugely popular compostable Nespresso Pods - transported in Instagram friendly pink coffee tins. Grind tins are currently available in its own stores, as well on Amazon and in Selfridges, with plans to pilot them with major retailers later this year.