MEDELLIN, Colombia, June 8, 2023 - The Green Coffee Company (GCC), a Legacy Group portfolio company and Colombia's largest coffee producer, announced today that it has closed its $25 million Series C equity funding round.
The company's financing to-date has been funded by more than 450 individual accredited and high-net-worth individual investors primarily from the U.S., who have invested over $60 million in the business. Direct investments from 'mass affluent' or high-net-worth individuals is a growing trend for Legacy Group's emerging market opportunities.
"The Green Coffee Company is offering unprecedented access to investment in one of the world's most timeless and in-demand commodities: Coffee. We're the only operator at-scale giving accredited international investors this opportunity," said Cole Shephard, founder of GCC and partner at Legacy Group. "The $25 million Series C equity raise is a testament to the credibility we have in the market. With our ever-expanding investor base, this raise brings our total equity funding to-date to over $60 million. In a market like Colombia, the impact we can have with this capital is market-defining and will be globally disruptive to how we drink coffee."
Proceeds from the funding round will expand the company's Colombian farming operations, as it looks to become the world's largest producer of arabica coffee, to accelerate its U.S.-based coffee roasting operations and to enable the company to launch lines of liquors and spirits distilled from coffee cherries and other coffee 'waste.' The company is currently seeking $65 million of institutional debt capital to supplement the equity raise in order to execute on its expansion plans.
Kevan Zipin, an investor since 2018, said of the company, "Being a part of this raise is phenomenal. What Cole, Adam, and the whole team are bringing to the world of coffee is incredibly compelling and unique. With their constant communication and insight, every new step has me feeling like I am a part of the developmental process."
Since its founding in 2017, GCC now has total landholdings in excess of 9,000 acres and more than 11,500,000 coffee trees under ownership, which makes the company more than two times larger than any other coffee producer in the country. With intentions of becoming the world's largest producer of arabica coffee in the next two years, GCC is considering a potential 2026 U.S. IPO exit.
About the Green Coffee Company
The Green Coffee Company is a consolidated coffee farming operation headquartered in the U.S. with operations based in Colombia. GCC has complete control of the supply chain: from cultivation to 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.
About Legacy Group
Legacy Group is a leading investment firm in Latin America with a strict focus on high-quality LATAM businesses for international high-net-worth & accredited investors that can produce outsized returns. With over $60 million of investment under management, our mission is to continue to build and source a concentrated portfolio of disruptive businesses for our clients through our on-the-ground experience that can quickly become market leaders in underinvested yet macroeconomically significant industries in Latin America. As just one example, in 2017, Legacy Group founded the Green Coffee Company, which has since become Colombia's largest coffee producer. For more information contact Legacy Group at investor.relations@legacy-group.co or visit their website at https://legacy-group.co/.
SOURCE Legacy Group
