The Green Coffee Company lands $100M Series C funding to revolutionize the Colombian coffee industry

The global coffee market was valued at $102.02 billion in 2020, and it is projected to reach a CAGR of 4.28% during the forecast period of 2021-2026. As of 2020, Folgers was the leading ground coffee brand in the United States, accounting for about over 25 percent of the U.S. ground coffee market. Starbucks ranked in second place, with a market share of around 12 percent.

Colombia has a reputation for producing mild, well-balanced coffee beans. Colombia’s average annual coffee production of 11.5 million bags is the third total highest in the world, after Brazil and Vietnam. The Green Coffee Company is currently Colombia’s #1 largest coffee producer. Dedicated to environmental, social, and economic sustainability, its mission is to make Columbian coffee available to coffee lovers all over the world.

Today, The Green Coffee Company announced the launch of its $100 million Series C funding round, which consists of a proposed $25 million in equity financing and $75 million in debt funding. The round follows the $13.2 million Series B round the startup raised in January when we covered the story.

The Green Coffee Company will use the funding proceeds to drive forward a new way of doing business that transforms the manner in which coffee is produced, processed, and monetized in Colombia.

The fresh capital injection is also expected to provide the Green Coffee Company with the capital needed to further expand its Colombian operations, accelerate its U.S.-based coffee roasting operations and enable the company to launch its own lines of liquors and spirits distilled from coffee cherries and other coffee by-products.

“This funding round will push us further towards our goal of becoming the world’s largest arabica-coffee producer,” said Cole Shephard, Green Coffee Company Founder and partner at Legacy Group, the company’s asset manager. “Through the buildout of our roasting facility and the monetization of coffee byproducts, we will be able to fully vertically-integrate additional lines of business from roasted coffee to business-to-consumer alcohol products. We already have the most sophisticated coffee processing facilities in Colombia, and, we believe, globally. We intend on continuing to be leaders of innovation in the coffee industry in Colombia and throughout the world.”

Founded in 2018, The Green Coffee Company is a Legacy Group portfolio company and a Colombian coffee producer with 956 hectares across 11 farms. Unlike big coffee giants like Starbucks, GCC fosters relationships between farmers and roasters in order to bridge the gap between producers and consumers.

The company is a consolidated coffee farming operation headquartered in the U.S. with operations based in Medellin, Colombia. The company’s innovative business model allows for complete control of the supply chain: from cultivation, through processing, to direct trade with end clients.

GCC’s holistic approach to the coffee sector and commitment to best environmental practices not only establishes the long-term profitability and sustainability of the business but also improves the quality of the coffee produced on the farms.

The Green Coffee Company has also committed to six of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals as central tenets of its business: gender equality, clean water, decent work, responsible consumption, climate action, and life on land.