Algrano closes financing round to scale up its impact in coffee trade

On algrano coffee growers present their green coffees online and sell them straight to coffee roasters: algrano brokers transparently the services necessary to make the deal happen offline. More than 700 business use algrano and shipments of coffees from Latin America were delivered to roasters spanning entire Europe.

Convinced by the impact algrano brings in the coffee value chains, the Innovationsfond of the Alternative Bank Switzerland (ABS) as well as the Geneva based impact investment fund Quadia, decided to back the growing company. “algrano’s unique business model fundamentally improves the terms of trade and life conditions of growers”, says Edy Walker, manager of ABS’s fund and Aymeric Jung from Quadia adds: “Beneficing of an online presence, the producers build longterm relationships with roasters and take a step towards entrepreneurship.”

Board of experienced industry leaders
In addition, the co-founders decided to surround themselves with external expertise and built a board of experienced industry leaders who founded and led successful organizations. Pascal Mathis, co-founder of the Swiss startup GetYourGuide, brings in his experience in the development of online platforms. David Rosenberg, founder of UTZ Certified, comes in with an extensive knowledge of the challenges faced by coffee growers around the world. Finally, Ragnar Wetterblad, founder of Sourcing & Services, adds  to the board his lifelong experience of coffee buying, producing, shipping and trading. The company is prepared to scale up its impact.

(Press release)