Platter, a UK-based all-in-one wholesale food platform connecting buyers and sellers, has just raised a £350,000 pre-seed round. By consolidating all food ordering, sales and purchasing tools within one digital platform, Platter is tackling food sourcing inefficiencies for the 3 in 4 businesses that still manage their food orders offline.
The 800,0000 businesses operating across Europe’s food industry lose millions of hours a week carrying out manual orders. Platter users reduce the processing time of orders received by an average of 30 minutes, and achieve sales uplift of up to 26%. The platform does this by aggregating all third party partners for the ordering, transportation, financing and sustainability (waste reduction) of food. This enables food buyers and suppliers to manage their connections in one place, reducing human error, saving time, and increasing margins.
As part of its sustainability goals, Platter enables users to connect with food charities in order to donate surplus stocks. Over 10M tonnes of food is wasted in the UK every year, most of it edible. Though 2.8M tonnes of that surplus are already being redistributed to charity, commerce or agriculture, that number can be vastly improved by easing access to surplus donation mechanisms via a dedicated platform.
Platter is the only platform of its kind that caters to both manufacturers and buyers, and which also integrates finance, food donation and surplus stock tools. The company is looking at a total addressable market of £96B with 1.1M+ potential customers across Europe, and Pitchbook estimates that the retail tech sector of foodtech will grow 20% in 2025.
“Jack has an outstanding knowledge of the market niche that Platter serves its clients. He combines this with a passion for strategically implementing technology in a rapidly evolving market, and an impressive understanding of the startup ecosystem. Platter was an easy investment for me and my network; we remain extremely bullish on its potential,” says investor Toby Webber.
“Platter has saved us 20 minutes per order and helped us to focus on what really matters whilst creating a better, healthier working environment,” says Ollie Ward, Head of Sales & Marketing at FDL Cheese, a Platter customer.
Platter is led by UK wholesale food industry veteran and serial entrepreneur Jack Clegg, who saw the opportunity to address food waste via tech after working at the top levels of food purchasing. This pre-seed saw participation from Startup Wise Guys and a group of highly experienced angel investors and investors in SaaS, ERP and the food industry. The funds will largely be deployed towards talent acquisition in sales and marketing in order to continue scaling the business.
