Sessions, a food brand licensing platform, has raised £3.25 million in investment from Virgin Money to further develop its technology and expand its portfolio of brands. In less than three years of operation, Sessions has achieved over £47 million in annualised sales, with over 300% growth in the latest quarter. This funding comes after a successful £8.1 million Series A round in 2022.
Sessions identifies promising food brands and rapidly scales them by launching them in existing kitchens. Unlike dark kitchen models, it takes a multi-channel approach to licensing, making its brands available on delivery platforms and in physical venues. This omnichannel strategy, combined with an emphasis on authentic concepts, has been instrumental in driving consumer sales.
Dan Warne, Founder of Sessions, commented, “To raise this round with such a great team at Virgin is testament to the significant growth we’ve achieved across the past 12 months, while radically improving profitability. It also marks a line in the sand for us to inject clear purpose and energy into our biggest growth lever – licensing and scaling brands through our tech platform.”
Sessions attributes its growth to two key principles: supporting authentic food concepts from passionate founders and grounding these concepts in the physical world. These principles set it apart from pure-play dark kitchen models, which face significant challenges.
Mark Cook, Head of Venture Debt at Virgin Money, said, “Virgin Money Venture Debt is delighted to have completed a £3.25m funding package with Sessions, a leading B2C technology company with a capital efficient physical and digital food platform. Sessions has an innovative asset light food licensing and franchising model which in essence helps chef founders rapidly test, incubate and scale their creations in an authentic way. We warmly welcome Dan Warne (CEO), Ian Banks (CFO) and all the Sessions team to our portfolio of fast growing technology companies.”
The funds will be used to further expand Sessions’ licensing efforts as the company moves away from large capital expenditure projects that require high operational intensity.
Shelter Hall, where Sessions originated, has experienced record revenues and profits in the 12 months leading up to September. It remains an essential content engine for the company, with over a third of the brands launched there growing within the wider Sessions network. One of these brands, Patty Guy by Kenny Tutt, has expanded to 100 sites under license and opened two physical franchises in Worthing and Hastings in the past six months.
