Pact Coffee abandoned its £1 million crowdfunding campaign after raising less than a fifth of its target
The campaign, due to end on March 23, was terminated on Wednesday, after Pact Coffee raised £190,000, less than a fifth of its overall target. 925 investors took part in the campaign.
A Pact Coffee spokesman told Business Insider: "There was a good steady trickle but there was no way we were going to get to the million.
"There were lots of small amounts going in but the more sophisticated investors that make these crowdfunding campaigns successful weren't going through."
Pact Coffee, founded in 2012 by Stephen Rapoport, delivers freshly roasted coffee by post. The coffee is roast, ground, and shipped all within seven days.
The company has several thousand customers across the UK but in order to scale-up, go international, and take advantage of a "home coffee" market that Pact Coffee believes to be worth over £1 billion, Pact Coffee wanted to raise more capital.
Midway through the campaign, Pact Coffee held an investor party at its office in Bermondsey, South London, in a bid to drum up support for the campaign. At the party, investors were given free espresso martinis and bags of Pact Coffee to take home with them.
Speaking to Business Insider at the event, Rapoport said he was confident Pact Coffee would hit the crowdfunding target.
.jp2)
The campaign allowed Pact Coffee customers and the general public to invest in Pact Coffee from just £10.
However, on March 5, almost two weeks into Pact Coffee's one month campaign, the company had received £150,180. At that point Pact Coffee needed to raise £850,000 in 19 days if it was going to hit its target.
Well-known investor Robin Klein invested in the company before the crowdfunding campaign, as did venture capital firm MMC Ventures. To date, Pact Coffee has raised a total of $3.36 million (£2.38 million).
"The ambition remains," said the Pact Coffee spokesman. "We plan to be a global brand and grow quickly. Stephen is looking again at the strategic plan. We'll still be financing again later in the year."