UK-based Redemption Roasters closes £2.7m investment round

A Redemption Roasters store in Kings Cross, London | Photo credit: Redemption Roasters

UK-based Redemption Roasters has said it is well-positioned to triple sales over the next three years after closing a £2.7m ($3.3m) investment round. 
 

The round was led by Macquarie Group Foundation, R&Co4Generations and Barrow-Cadbury Trust and includes investment from the business’ crowdfunding campaign launched in November 2023. 

With a pre-money valuation of £22m ($27.2m), Redemption Roasters said the funding will enable it to open four new outlets across the next few months, scale its prisoner rehabilitation programme and expand its wholesale business, which currently includes blue chip clients KPMG, Meta and Amazon. 

Launched in 2016 by Max Dubiel and Ted Rosner, Redemption Roasters currently operates 10 stores across London and is planning to open a further 17 sites in the capital by 2026.  

The specialty coffee roaster and cafè chain, which works to rehabilitate prisoners and prison leavers by providing barista skills training within UK prisons, has achieved 60% year-on-year sales growth since 2019 and forecasts revenues exceeding £25m ($31m) by 2026.  

“As a purpose-driven business that has achieved phenomenal growth, we are very excited about this next chapter in our journey. The proceeds will drive further growth of our brand and help us achieve even greater profitability through scale. This will also enable the business to do more to help prison leavers and further deliver on our wider social ambitions to support coffee producers throughout the world,” said Dubiel. 

Redemption Roasters currently partners with the UK’s Ministry of Justice to provides barista and coffee technician training programmes in HMP Pentonville and High Down. The company also operates a roastery inside HMP The Mount. 

Indicating the long-term growth potential for high-quality coffee business in the UK, London-based Grind, premium chocolate and coffee chain Knoops and specialty coffee chain WatchHouse all courted significant investment last year, raising £15m ($17.1m), £8.3m ($10.4m) and £7.9m ($10m) respectively. 
 

Additionally, Origin Coffee, Workshop Coffee and 92 Degrees received new investment to scale their businesses, with premium doughnut, coffee and ice cream operator Crosstown and specialty robusta coffee chain Black Sheep Coffee among those currently raising funds.