The 22-store specialty coffee chain is launching a crowdfunding campaign to fund 16 new outlets in 2025, including first international sites in neighbouring Luxembourg, France and the Netherlands
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An IzyCoffee store in Leuven, Belgium | Photo credit: IzyCoffee/Facebook
Belgian specialty coffee chain IzyCoffee is launching a new crowdfunding campaign on 17 December 2024 to drive further domestic outlet growth and open its first international stores.
The 22-store coffee chain is seeking to raise €3.3m ($3.5m) via a new Winwinner campaign and potential investment from Belgian bank-insurers KBC Group NV and Verzekering & PMV.
If its funding target is met, IzyCoffee plans to open 16 new stores in 2025, including sites in Brussels, Antwerp and Bruges. The specialty coffee chain said new investment will also enable it to expand internationally for the first time, citing Luxembourg, Lille in France and Maastricht in the Netherlands as its first planned locations abroad.
The investment round follows a €314,568 ($349,288) Crowdcube raise in June 2024 which IzyCoffee said would support further expansion in Belgium and ‘build the foundations’ for planned European market debuts.
IzyCoffee achieved 40% year-on-year sales growth in 2023 to reach €2.6m ($2.8m), with EBITDA increasing 61% to €296,288 ($329,000).
In September 2024, the coffee chain’s CEO Bart Buyse said he expects annual turnover will reach €5m ($5.5m) this year.
IzyCoffee is one of the fastest growing branded coffee chains in Belgium, with only market leader Pano opening more stores last year. World Coffee Portal’s Project Café Europe 2024 report forecasts the total Belgian branded coffee shop market will grow by 100 net new outlets over the next four years to surpass 590 sites in the first quarter of 2029.