WatchHouse has completed a $10m (£7.9M) Series A fundraising round to drive growth in the UK and US over the next 36 months.
Led by Founder and CEO, Roland Horne and advised by Bosham Capital Advisors, funds were raised from a mix of Family Office and high-net-worth investors in the UK, Europe, Asia, South America and the U.S with existing follow-on support from venture capital backers, Edition Capital.
Following on from the pre-Series A funding led by Edition Capital in 2019, these funds will primarily be deployed to drive continued expansion of the coffee house estate in the UK and New York as well as WatchHouse’s e-commerce platform as the brand continues to scale rapidly.
WatchHouse is on track to expand operations in London with sites in Hampstead, Fitzrovia, Marble Arch and two in Canary Wharf all secured and due to open in 2024.
The company says it remains focused on ”continuous sustainable growth”, both locally and internationally, and also plans to open its inaugural overseas WatchHouse in New York on 5th Avenue in early 2024, with three more sites in the US pipeline.
WatchHouse projects a +60% year-on-year growth in FY24 with turnover forecasted to exceed £20 million in FY24 and £40 million by FY25.
Projected EBITDA by FY25 stands at £8.4 million, and in the recent quarter, the company has experienced several weeks of record-breaking sales.
Speaking of this achievement, CEO and founder Roland Horne said, “It’s a remarkable achievement to come from a tiny 26sqm building in London Bridge to be crowned Europe’s best in Barcelona this past month, but there is definitely a part of the culture here at WatchHouse that sees the interjection of the word “Europe” in the award title as one to be scratched out.
”We want to be the global best and we are absolutely fixated on scaling quality specialty coffee and cafe experiences that are second to none. Our take on Modern Coffee, being a premium product, exceptional places, passionate people and motivating profit allows us to sustainably take a different approach to the well-trodden path of those who have gone before.
The opening of our brand in the US, and the subsequent scaling in the UK will provide a great foundation for our growth through the years, towards our 10-year target of operating over 500 WatchHouses across the globe by 2033”.
Adrian Faure, MD of Bosham Capital Advisors, added, “We are very pleased to have completed a successful transaction for WatchHouse in a challenging market for the hospitality industry overall post-Covid and mid-inflationary pressures.
”The key to WatchHouse’s success in capital raising has been the development of a concise and differentiated market positioning for the challenger brand, coupled with a strong partnership between the management team and the deal team at Bosham.
“Not only does WatchHouse have an even stronger capital position from which to execute its growth plan from, but it has also welcomed a very high quality investor group onto its cap table in a transaction that was upsized by 20%+ due to excess demand in a very short time frame”, he added.
