Gander EIS

Every year, around $1.4 trillion worth of groceries are reduced to clear. More than half of that goes to waste, and for products that do sell, retailers recover only 15-25% of the original sale value.

In an industry where profit margins are in the single digits, this is both a huge problem and a huge opportunity. In the EU, where around €132 billion worth of food is wasted annually, new directives have targeted a 30% reduction in food waste from retailers over the next five years.

However, the market currently offers few options for retailers to action waste-prevention on a large scale.

Addressing this, Gander Holdings Limited (“Gander” or the “Company”) has developed a quick-to-implement, end-to-end solution.

The software integrates with retailers’ existing point-of-sale (“POS”) systems to automatically intercept and market Reduced-to-Clear (RTC) items in real-time across Gander’s partner display network - making items visible to millions of shoppers.

This increases the likelihood of RTC stock being sold instead of becoming waste, providing a financial boost directly to retailers’ wafer-thin margins.

Gander was founded by Ashley Osborne and has been backed by seed capital of more than £3 million from the Osborne Family Office. The business has also received financial backing from Nick Oughtred (Non-Exec Director of William Jackson Food Group, whose brands include Abel & Cole, Jacksons of Yorkshire and formerly Aunt Bessie’s).

Gander’s strategic leadership includes Andy Clarke (former CEO of Asda) and Mark Hinds (former COO of data science company Dunnhumby, which helped Tesco launch its Clubcard).

Although at an early stage, customer results and commercial traction to date have been positive:

• Average ROI for early retailers above 800%
• Average revenue recovery for a small convenience store c.£25k per annum (comparable to net profit)
• Average increase in basket spend where an RTC item is present above 10%
• Access to 50% of relevant consumers through partnerships with Olio, Google Local Feed Partner, Snappy Shopper, Meta and a retailer’s own store webpage
• Zero customer churn to date £465k ARR contracted from 800+ stores across the UK and Europe
• To support its growth, Gander aims to raise £1 million in this round at an £11 million fully diluted pre-money valuation to grow its Sales, Marketing and Product/Engineering teams.

The Company is currently in trials with major retailers including Iceland, Morrisons and MFG (the UK’s largest independent forecourt retailer, with £5.1 billion turnover).

If Gander can demonstrate to Tier-1 retailers that its software can have a material impact on waste reduction and thereby bottom line, individual contracts could be significant.

In its trial with Gander, Iceland saw an average reduction in waste of 26%, with improvements in sell-through rates of RTC food of up to 60%. 80% of shoppers visiting through Gander’s network were new to Iceland and 70% also made full-price purchases during their visit.

The platform has helped retailers achieve an average sell-through rate of 87% for RTC items compared to a pre-Gander average of just 45%.

Predicated on being able to replicate trial results at scale and winning contracts with major retailers, the Company is forecasting sales of £1.3 million in Y1, growing to £16.8 million by Y5 with EBITDA of £7.4 million and ARR of £17.7 million – not guaranteed.

Based on the Company’s forecasts, the target return in Y5 is 10x (IRR 57%) after performance fees, but before EIS tax relief. Investing at this early stage means rewards could be significant, but so are the risks. No further funding is planned to achieve these forecasts – not guaranteed.

This is a single company offer with no diversification. It involves investing in an early-stage, loss-making business, which is by nature high risk and prone to failure. There is a risk that the capital raised may not be sufficient to achieve the Company’s objectives. You could lose all the amount you invest.

Like all investments available through Wealth Club, it is only for experienced investors happy to make their own investment decisions without advice.

There is no ready market for unlisted EIS shares: they are illiquid and hard to sell and value. There will need to be an exit for you to receive a realised return on your investment.

Exits are likely to take considerably longer than the three-year minimum EIS holding period; equally, an exit within three years could impact tax relief. The value of tax benefits depends on circumstances and tax rules can change.

Before you invest, please carefully read the Information Memorandum which contains further details on the considerable risks – alongside the Wealth Club Risks and Commitments.

Investors will pay no direct initial or ongoing charges to invest. Fundraising costs are being met by the Company. Wealth Club will be entitled to a performance fee on exit. 

Wealth Club investors will invest using a nominee structure. This service is provided by Wealth Club’s subsidiary companies Wealth Club Asset Management Limited (authorised and regulated by the FCA) and Wealth Club Nominees Limited. Wealth Club Nominees Ltd will be completing the share subscription documentation on investors’ behalf.

Please refer to the Schedule of Charges for more details on charges (may vary for different rounds).

All the services Wealth Club and, where applicable, its subsidiaries provide are governed by the Terms and Conditions of the Wealth Club Services.

The opportunity for Gander could be significant. Food retailers operate on tight margins and currently many of the unsold goods generate little to no income – often ending up discarded, given away or at best, sold for animal feed. If Gander can build momentum with major retailers by demonstrating it can provide material improvements to bottom line profits (plus help meet ESG reporting targets), the business could potentially grow rapidly.

That said, should the business fail to secure major contracts with supermarkets or convenience groups and instead focuses on smaller contracts, the business is unlikely to scale as fast as forecast. In our view, this risk is reflected in the valuation in this round – you should form your own view.

The business is at an exciting – albeit early – stage, with the potential to sign significant contracts in the next year. However, there is no guarantee that existing trials will convert to full contracts.

We consider this to be a compelling, but high-risk, EIS investment opportunity – as usual, you should form your own view.

This financial promotion has been communicated and approved by Wealth Club Ltd on 17 March 2025

Wealth Club aims to make it easier for experienced investors to find information on – and apply for – investments. You should base your investment decision on the offer documents and ensure you have read and fully understand them before investing. The information on this webpage is a marketing communication. It is not advice or a personal or research recommendation to buy any of the investments mentioned, nor does it include any opinion as to the present or future value or price of these investments. It does not satisfy legal requirements promoting investment research independence and is thus not subject to prohibitions on dealing ahead of its dissemination.