A trio of friends have see their business raise more than £1million in five days through crowdfunding.

Sidmouth Herald: Friends Myles Hopper, Rob Grief-Gran, and Sidmouth's Giles Humphries have seen their business Mindful Chef raise more than 1million in a week. Pictured are Myles and Giles.Friends Myles Hopper, Rob Grief-Gran, and Sidmouth's Giles Humphries have seen their business Mindful Chef raise more than 1million in a week. Pictured are Myles and Giles. (Image: Archant)

Diners hungry for healthy recipes and ingredients delivered to their door have helped a business started by three school friends raise more than £1million in five days.

Giles Humphries, from Sidmouth, and pals Rob Grief-Gran, from Lympstone, and Myles Hopper, from Exeter, co-founded Mindful Chef, a health recipe box business.

After setting up in 2015, the trio last week took the next step to raise its next round of funding on Crowdcube to fund marketing and technology to support its ‘farm to fork’ model.

Since launching six days ago on the crowdfunding platform, they have received more than 500 investments totalling £1,387,350.

Giles, who grew up in Fortescue, said: “It took us completely by surprise. We knew our customer base was passionate about our service, but they totally overwhelmed us with investments pouring in as soon as the first email announcing the raise was sent out.

“This has made the whole team feel hugely enthused about the future and verifies that we have a service that people love so much they are willing to back and be shareholders in.”

The trio set up Mindful Chef using their backgrounds in marketing, finance and personal fitness, to create recipes and food boxes containing fresh ingredients sourced from Devon to be delivered to people’s homes.

The business has grown from delivering 15,000 boxes to more than half-a-million in two years and has also been financially backed by sports stars Sir Andy Murray and Victoria Pendleton CBE.

Giles said crowdfunding sites were ‘instrumental’ for smaller start-ups such as Mindful Chef, which began by delivering their first 10 boxes from a van.

The 31-year-old said: “As a tiny business, hardly anyone knows about you in your early days, so you need access to capital to help get scale and get your word out there.

“Traditionally you might have to be in the position where you know the right people which is simply unfair.

“Nowadays if you have a good enough idea, these platforms allow you to present your idea to hundreds of thousands of engaged investors who can collectively give your business a huge boost.”