Start-up Flavourly reaches crowdfunding target

Ryan O'Rorke, left, and Assean Sheikh raised £515,000 after snubbing TV deal. Picture: Contributed

Flavourly, the gourmet food and beer distributor founded by Scots entrepreneur Ryan O’Rorke, has raised £515,000 on Crowdcube. A total of 339 investors have taken a 34 per cent stake, versus the 20 per cent chunk that television dragons Piers Linney and Peter Jones were seeking.

During filming in March 2014, O’Rorke accepted the offer, and this was what viewers saw when the programme aired in February. However, O’Rorke and Flavourly chief executive Assean Sheikh subsequently decided to pursue other funding options instead.They launched their Crowdcube campaign on the back of the publicity from the TV series with an initial target of £300,000. Since then, the company has also gained “thousands” of new subscribers, raising sales tenfold to an expected £1 million this year.

“We’ve always believed in the strength of our product but to have exceeded our target in such a dramatic way is truly amazing,” O’Rorke said. “We warmly welcome all our new investors and have huge and exciting growth plans to make Flavourly the go-to destination for gourmet food, snacks and craft beer across Europe.”