Ooni's pizza oven crowdfunder hots up with investor rush

The company was founded by husband-and-wife team Kristian Tapaninaho and Darina Garland. Picture: contributed.

The Scottish-based creator of a pioneering portable pizza oven has smashed crowdfunding targets, raising £40,000 in the first hour for its new “game-changing” product.

Broxburn-based Ooni - formerly Uuni - was founded by husband-and-wife team Kristian Tapaninaho and Darina Garland, has 50 staff and has featured on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

It is raising funds for its Ooni Karu offering, a wood and charcoal-fired pizza oven for cooking authentic pizza in just 60 seconds.

The new Kickstarter project – which has already raised more than £150,000 – follows the success of its larger Ooni Pro model, which raised more than £500,000 in just five weeks through crowdfunding in 2017.

The firm now ships to more than 80 countries including the US and across Europe, and chief executive and co-founder Tapaninaho said: “We’ve had great success with crowdfunding in the past and are so excited to be back on Kickstarter to launch Ooni Karu.”