Press Release

National law firm Shoosmiths has advised long standing clients Octopus Investments on its multi-million pound funding into office catering company City Pantry.

Octopus Investments, part of the Octopus Group, has led a £4 million Series A funding round into the London-based company to fund its expansion into other cities in the UK over the next 18 months, as well as continuing the its triple digit growth in London. Existing investors, and investment firm Newable Private Investing, also participated in the funding round.

City Pantry is an online platform championing independent small food companies by providing a service allowing corporates to order from street vendors, and have it delivered to their offices. It was launched four years ago and caters for businesses including Spotify, Google and BuzzFeed, and has tapped into a growing demand from employees for greater workplace wellbeing.

Alastair Peet, corporate partner at Shoosmiths who led on the deal, said: “This is a really exciting and unique service, which is of huge benefit to independent traders. Octopus Investments is a long-standing client of ours and we were thrilled to act for them once again, further developing our already strong relationship.

“This deal demonstrates the strength and depth of our corporate team and how effectively we work collaboratively, supporting each other as well as the client throughout a transaction. We have a vastly experienced team, having acted on more than 100 venture capital, and growth, deals for a number of high-profile clients, and our insights into this sector ensure we continue to deliver results for our clients.”

Alastair was assisted on the deal by corporate senior associate Alistair Hamilton, corporate partner Tom Wilde, corporate solicitor Helen Burnell and employment associate Nick Vernan.

Shoosmiths LLP is one of the most active UK law firms in the area of advanced manufacturing and tech start-ups, acting for founders, investors, funders, and research organisations, which look to the firm for VCT, EIS and SEIS tax advice, IP and commercialisation. Shoosmiths was 'Highly Commended' in the EIS Awards 2017. Nationally, the corporate team is ranked in the top four firms for deal volume for the past four years, in the Experian MarketIQ’s M&A Review.

City Pantry currently delivers to more than 500 businesses, equating to more than 20,000 people a week across the whole of London.

Grant Paul-Florence, head of intermediate capital at Octopus Investments, City Pantry’s lead investor, said: “City Pantry is one of the hottest start-ups in this space, and the team has ambitious plans to revolutionise the way people eat at work. It’s uniquely placed to satisfy the growing appetite for high quality, hassle-free workplace meals, which organisations are increasingly demanding as they work to build an attractive company culture.

“We believe it has the potential to achieve its target of expansion and we look forward to achieving that ambition thanks to the excellent service provided by the Shoosmiths team once again.”

Octopus Investments is a venture capital and investment firm specialising in early stage, emerging growth, growth capital and buyouts.