Joe Coffee has crafted an online ordering platform for independent java shops. Now the Seattle-based startup has landed another infusion of venture capital to help it expand further amid a wave of mobile ordering.
Joe Coffee announced Thursday (July 9) it has raised an additional $1.3 million in seed funding, bringing to $3.5 million the total investors have poured into the startup.
Armed with this new infusion of capital, Joe Coffee said it will make further improvements to its platform as it looks to capitalize on a wave of mobile ordering in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.
“Mobile ordering and payment technology was growing rapidly pre-Covid-19, but now is accelerating exponentially — and we expect these behaviors to become routine,” Joe Coffee CEO Nick Martin said in a press release.
Citing a survey commissioned by the company, Joe Coffee said 80 percent of coffee drinkers have used a mobile app since the coronavirus hit the United States in full force this spring.
And two-thirds expect to keep ordering their lattes and iced Americanos online even after the threat from COVID-19 recedes.
Moreover, as many as 70 percent of coffee drinkers who responded to the company’s survey said they would be open to switching from one of the big coffee chains to an indie shop — provided their local java joint offers mobile ordering.
Joe Coffee, in turn, said its network of shops using its platform has hit the 1,000 mark, with “a 20X increase in gross merchandise volume since March,” according to the release.
“While the pandemic is driving rapid growth, our platform is becoming a foundational tool to help independent businesses reimagine the way they serve their customers after we return to a new normal,” Martin said.
Craft Venture led the latest, $1.3 million investment round in Joe Coffee, following the earlier $2.2 million round led by investors including Gravity Payments and Flying Fish.
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