Vegan pizzeria Purezza secures £2.4m investment to expand

Vegan pizzeria group Purezza has secured a £2.4m investment to open further restaurants and grow its retail arm.

The funding round was completed by London's MVK Group and will see the company expand ‘rapidly' throughout 2021.

Vegan investment firm Veg Capital has directly backed the growth of Purezza's plant-based mozzarella into retail, including the launch of an 8,000 sq ft shop in Brighton and Hove.

Tim Barclay, co-founder of Purezza, said: "This is an opportunity to enjoy the Purezza experience from home. Our plant-based mozzarella is designed to rival premium Italian buffalo mozzarella, giving the same quality and flavour that people expect from a classic food, but with modern and sustainable methods of production. We can't wait for people to be able to cook with it themselves."

Purezza was founded in Brighton in 2015 and opened a London restaurant in 2018, which tripled in size this year.

A Hove site launched in August and a Bristol restaurant in September.

Purezza has developed its own range of vegan cheese for its restaurants, and is also in the process of opening a plant-based cheese factory in Brighton and Hove.