Sisters Grace and Sophie Devlin have raised £660,500 for TOSS, their plant-based dressing brand, from venture, family office and angel investors, after a year in which the British Business Bank says the number of seed-stage equity deals in the UK fell by 27 per cent.
The backers are SFC Capital, an early-stage investor; FIGR, the family office behind Citizens of Soil, an olive oil brand; the food-focused angel syndicate GOTA; and Access, SyndicateRoom’s data-driven angel fund. Emily Shaw and Ollie Ody, who founded the direct-to-consumer consultancy TRIBE, and the angel investors William Frewin and Tom Waterhouse also took part, the company said.
TOSS said the money would go on building brand awareness, widening retail distribution and adding to its range. That range runs to five dressings, among them Green Goddess, Miso Magic and King Caesar, and the company markets them for dipping, marinating, glazing and spreading as well as for salads.
Grace Devlin, the brand’s co-founder, said: “From the very beginning, our priority wasn’t simply raising capital, it was finding partners who genuinely believe in our vision and who can add value as we scale the business. This investment will allow us to build TOSS into the UK’s everyday squeeze.” The company was “absolutely delighted to have brought together such an incredible group of investors to support TOSS”, she said.
She said the business would be “investing heavily in building consumer awareness and driving trial, whilst continuing to grow our direct-to-consumer community alongside our retail footprint. We’ll also be launching new product formats that make it even easier for consumers to incorporate TOSS into everyday meals, whether that’s drizzling, dipping, marinating, glazing, or spreading.”
Where the brand sells
The company lists Harrods, Selfridges and Holland & Barrett among its stockists, along with Panzer’s, Eat 17, Glasette, BEN’s, Superette and more than 100 farm shops and delis. Its wholesale partners are Mahalo, Suma, Faire, Artesian Food Club and CLF. The company says all of its dressings are vegan, gluten-free and free of refined sugar, artificial emulsifiers and preservatives.
The brand holds Great Taste Awards, the scheme run by the Guild of Fine Food, which says products are judged by a panel of more than 500 experts including chefs, buyers, food writers and retailers and can receive one, two or three stars.
Why the investors backed it
Vincent Kuiper of GOTA said: “The dressing aisle has been dominated by artificial additives for over a decade, with little meaningful innovation in sight. TOSS changes that, bringing 100% natural ingredients, bold flavours, and a brand built for occasions well beyond the salad bowl.”
Emily Shaw of TRIBE said TOSS was “tapping into a real shift in how people want to eat, less waste, less faff, better ingredients”, and added: “This raise puts them in a strong position to own that space, and we’re delighted to help them maximise the DTC opportunity.”
Tom Britton, co-founder of SyndicateRoom, said: “In a short period of time Sophie and Grace have built a distinctive brand with a clear point of view in a category that hasn’t had one for years.”
The round follows a weaker year for equity funding of early-stage founders, according to the British Business Bank. The British Business Bank’s Small Business Equity Tracker, published on 2 July, put equity investment into UK smaller businesses at £12.3bn in 2025, 4 per cent lower than the year before, with deal numbers at the seed and venture stages down 27 per cent and 13 per cent respectively. The 10 largest fundraisings accounted for 23 per cent of all the money invested, the bank said.
