Algrano obtains additional CHF4 million to digitalize the coffee industry

Algrano was founded in 2015 in Zurich by Gilles Brunner, Christian Burri and Raphael Studer with the ambition to digitalise the coffee industry and promote transparency across the supply chain. Algrano offers an online market place for roasters and growers to engage in the direct coffee trade. Through the platform, European roasters contact growers in real-time with a single click while growers get access to new markets, better prices and direct feedback. To date, more than 600 growers and 700 roasters have signed up to Algrano.

In addition to the growing users of its platform, the startup has also seen growth and success in other fields: in 2018, the startup raised CHF2 million, expanded its market reach to 20 European countries and solidified partnerships in the 5 main coffee producing-countries: Brazil, Colombia, Ethio­pia, Honduras, and Peru. Furthermore, the volume of transactions tripled, over 100 new relationships between roasters and growers were established and the company’s team grew 20 members.

Moving forward to the next steps, Algrano has raised CHF4 million from its shareholders to extend its product offering and provide new technology-driven solutions to meet the customer demands of its clients. This includes large retailers looking for containers of traceable coffee with food safety guarantees and niche speciality roasters wanting exclusive micro-lots.

Future plans in progress
Accordingly, the startup aims to provide enhanced business intelligence to growers and build technology to enable them to identify and maintain good relationships to become more successful sellers. For this, development plans and research is under-way. Raphael Studer, co-founders says: “The next step for 2020 is to better understand the relationships between growers and roasters and build technology around their needs to make such relationships fully autonomous.”