Snappy Group, the grocery delivery business founded in Dundee, has agreed a seven-figure funding facility with Virgin Money’s venture debt team. The company says the money will give it extra headroom to grow across the UK and in selected international markets.
Best known for the Snappy Shopper app and website, the company has grown into a wider retail technology platform offering marketplace, order aggregation, white-label and retail media services to retailers across the UK. Transaction volumes on the platform are at record levels, and annualised grocery gross merchandise value has passed £150 million and is rising quickly. Demand for its order aggregation product is also climbing, and Snappy says it has a strong pipeline of major global retailers in discussion with the business.
Chief financial officer Barry McGonagle said the deal came at an important moment, with demand growing rapidly, volumes at record levels and a significant market opportunity ahead. He said the facility “adds further firepower alongside previous equity investments” and gives the company the capital and flexibility to pursue that opportunity. He added that Snappy had known the Virgin Money team for several years. Beyond its seven-figure size, the value of the facility and its terms have not been disclosed.
Founded in 2017, Snappy now runs three divisions. Snappy Shopper is its marketplace and rapid delivery platform, Snappy Technologies provides a quick-commerce technology stack covering order aggregation and white-label services, and Snappy Media is the retail media arm, which includes Snappy Connect. The company works with independent and national partners across the UK convenience sector, among them Spar, One Stop, Morrisons and the Co-op.
Andrew Stirrat, senior director of venture debt at Virgin Money, said the bank had closely followed the company’s progress over several years and praised its sustained growth, describing it as one of Scotland’s leading scale-up technology companies, and said the bank looked forward to backing the next phase of its expansion. Virgin Money, now part of Nationwide Building Society, has about 6.6 million retail and business customers and is headquartered in Glasgow, with major offices in Newcastle and London; Clydesdale Bank and Yorkshire Bank have been rebranded under the Virgin Money name since 2019. For Snappy, the facility arrives as its marketplace keeps growing and its order aggregation product gains traction with retailers, a period the company describes as one of significant commercial growth.
