Olimaker has opened a funding round under the leadership of Fellow Funders for a target capital of €550,000, extendable up to €687,500 if a 125% overfunding is reached. Fellow Funders will conduct the round through its Equity Crowdfunding platform. This platform, with more than 27,000 registered investors, has already raised, so far, more than 21 million euros in alternative financing for 40 projects, mostly technological, with high impact in their markets of reference and high added value for investors.
Through this funding round, Olimaker aims to raise funds to optimize the production and commercialization of its precision micro mill: the first in the market that integrates, in a single portable machine the size of a domestic photocopier, the three industrial processes necessary for the extraction of extra virgin olive oil: milling, beating and centrifuging. All in a short run and automatically.
The micro-oil mill, available in two versions, Professional (for the professional market) and Home (for the domestic and Horeca market), allows the extraction of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) by simply introducing a minimal quantity of olives (between 1.5 and 3 kg) to obtain EVOO in a short period of time (less than 30 minutes).
Oil extraction: innovation and ecology
The Olimaker micro-oil mill, duly patented and in the process of applying for the CE Marking for its commercialization in the European producing countries (Europe concentrates 87% of the world’s production of olive oil), has been designed with environmental and ecological criteria. The waste is cleaned manually once the process is finished.
This technological, innovative, and disruptive product aims to revolutionize the EVOO extraction process when the market is undergoing a paradigm shift, betting on quality over quantity.
To optimize and scale up the production of its micro mills (to be launched this year), the Granada-based company has signed an agreement with the national manufacturer SIMA SA (present in 57 countries) and created a joint venture: Olimaker Factory. As a result, the company will also be able to offer maintenance and parts replacement services, both in the domestic market and abroad, with great speed and careful service.
The Olimaker Professional MC3 1.0 micro oil mill is specially designed for olive mills, industrial mills, olive growers, research centers, gourmet producers, and agrotourism. The machine was presented at Expoliva Smart-Agrifood Summit, the largest European event on innovation, high technology, and leading companies in the agri-food sector. The company has already received firm orders and more than 2,000 requests for information through its website.
At home or in the hospitality industry
For its part, the Olimaker Home MC1 1.0 micro oil mill, aimed at homes, restaurants, and the Horeca sectors that want to produce their own EVOO, will be introduced at the next EXPOLIVA International Fair in September in Spain. This event is crucial for the company to boost its sales traction.
Moreover, Olimaker plans to launch a new service to supply olives for its micro-olive mills all year round in the form of an “Oli Bag”. This way, the seasonality of the fruit will no longer be an obstacle for restaurants and households to produce their own high-quality EVOO any time of the year.
Spain is the leading producer of Extra Virgin Olive Oil worldwide (approx. 2 M Ton 2020-21), accounting for 60% of European and 45% of world production. Italy, Greece, Tunisia, Morocco, Portugal, and Turkey also contribute to this figure, together with Spain, accounting for 87% of world production.
By Autonomous Communities, Andalusia produces 85% of Spanish olive oil, followed by Castilla La-Mancha (6.60%), Extremadura (2.70%), Catalonia (2.20%), and Aragon (1%). By provinces, Jaén is the largest producer of quality EVOO, followed by Granada, Córdoba, and Málaga. In Spain, the sector has a total of 400,000 olive growers, 1,755 mills, 1,500 bottling plants, and 22 refineries.
Olive oil is an ancient business, more than 7,000 million years old, moving between €10,000 and 12,000 million euros/year worldwide. Moreover, its growth expectations are high due to the increase in demand in the 169 consumer countries for EVOO’s nutritional and medicinal properties. EVOO is the basis of the Mediterranean diet, considered a World Heritage Site by Unesco. At present, 80% of olive oil is consumed in only ten countries.
The company’s research work has already been recognized by the main institutions and professionals in the sector. Now, the Granada-based company aims to go a step further. For this reason, it has turned to Fellow Funders. This fintech was born in 2016, practically at the same time as Olimaker, and aims to revolutionize the world of finance by offering SMEs and startups the possibility of financing through alternative and innovative instruments such as Equity Crowdfunding.
Equity Crowdfunding helps investors to contribute capital to a company in exchange for receiving shares. In this way, Fellow Funders has helped finance companies in various industries, including brewing. After the success in this sector, Fellow Funders has decided to enter into another sector characteristic of our country, such as the olive oil sector, with Olimaker. The funding round, led by these two companies, is a further step in its commitment to revolutionize two traditional sectors in our country: olive oil and finance.
Source: El Referente
About Olimaker
OLIMAKERS WORLD S.L. was born in 2017 to revolutionize the technology of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) extraction. It is the first company to design and produce a precision micro mill, Olimaker Professional, that integrates into a single small and portable machine the three necessary processes to obtain Extra Virgin Olive Oil: milling, beating, and centrifuging. By simply introducing 3kg of olives, the oil is obtained in 20 minutes.
The new Olimaker micro mill is a revolution in testing and researching the quality of olive oil to change and complement the search from yield to the excellence of a quality EVOO. Moreover, the company will soon launch Olimaker Home, a micro-oil mill aimed at homes and the Horeca sector, for individuals to create their own EVOO from olives supplied by the company in “Oli Bag” format.
Thanks to the industrialization of the Olimaker Professional product, OLIMAKERS WORLD S.L. is already an established SME, pending only to receive the CE marking. The company relies on a team of businessmen and engineers who have collaborated with Andalusian universities and research centers for four years. For these four years, they have invested more than €2M in R+D. The company has participated in multiple international reference events with a maximum acceptance of its products.
About Fellow Funders
Fellow Funders Crowd Investment is a crowdfunding platform authorized and supervised by the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (Spanish Securities and Exchange Commission) since 2017. The company offers startups and companies the possibility of financing through Equity Crowdfunding, whereby investors contribute to companies in exchange for a share in them.
Since its foundation, Fellow Funders Crowd Investment has carried out 41 funding rounds, raising approximately 21 million euros from 27,000 investors. This platform is one of the benchmarks of Equity Crowdfunding in Spain. Moreover, a few months ago, the platform launched the first Spanish app dedicated to this form of financing.
Fellow Funders Crowd Investment is one of the four movements that make up the harmony of The Finance Symphony of Fellow Funders. The other three divisions are Fair Value, for company valuation; Alternative Assets, a strategic advisory division; and Capital Markets, for exits to alternative capital markets.
