LiberEat targets £1 million investment to drive growth
Aberdeen-based allergen and food safety technology developer LiberEat is embarking on a £1 million fundraising drive to grow its volume of users and further enhance its offering to app users and clients in the food sector.
The company has already secured the support of partners such as the Vegan Society’s Vegan Trademark in its efforts to support the estimated 13 million people in the UK with food allergies and other dietary requirements by helping them source suitable grocery products, recipes and restaurants.
There are now over 130,000 food products and 1500 restaurants featured on the LiberEat platform. The company is also working with a range of retail and restaurant partners, including Pret A Manger, Browns and All Bar One.
LiberEat is in the process of raising upwards of £1m. The funds raised will be used to grow its app user base further and accelerate roll out of its technology to address allergen errors for food production and restaurant chain clients.
Founded in 2016 by Barry Leaper and Louise Cahill, the company’s team has grown to nine people, including recent additions Michelle McClure, former head of brand marketing for Europe at Rover.com, and b, who was previously head of London for Uber Eats. LiberEat was also named as one of the 10 most exciting tech starts up in the UK, winning the Tech Nation Rising Stars awards for both Scotland and the UK, and was also a recent winner of the Scottish Edge funding competition.
Barry Leaper, managing director and co-founder of LiberEat, said: “LiberEat is on a mission to make life easier and safer for everyone with dietary requirements and reduce potentially harmful food allergy incidents. This current funding round comes at a key stage in our development to help us continue increasing our UK-wide app user base and further innovating our unique offering to help food service and food production clients ensure the highest level of accuracy when listing allergen details in products.”
Shona Fraser, partner at Chiene + Tait’s Inverness office, added: “LiberEat is a great example of an innovative and future-facing Aberdeen business. Targeting a UK-wide market, the business has excellent growth potential and is building a great team to achieve success. EIE 2021 is set to provide LiberEat with an ideal platform to connect with investors and further develop their business.”