Unity Coffee has secured £2m to fund the rollout of 500 examples of its AI-powered vending machine, with the firm having forecourts very much in its sights.
Unity’s founder, Scott Martin, was instrumental in bringing premium espresso machines into filling stations in 1999 with his Coffee Nation brand. The entrepreneur now considers forecourt coffee “is not growing to the extent it should be despite being turbocharged on the high street”.
To combat this Martin has launched Unity Coffee, which promises to offer coffee, matcha and hot chocolate at prices 20% lower than competitors, all while utilising a app-based ordering, real-time loyalty offers and connected machines.
After raising an initial £1m and carrying out successful trials in London, Unity has now secured a further £2m from a consortium of experienced industry figures. Over the next 12 months the firm plans to install 500 machines at high footfall areas including gyms, hotels and forecourts.
“Big Coffee has spent decades extracting maximum margin from a captive market”, Martin said, adding: “We are here to flip the model. We are committed to offering barista quality drinks at up to 20% cheaper than the high street, powered by a digital platform built for the next decade and socially distributed instant rewards which serve customers and owners.”
