Former Costa Express boss secures £2 million in funding to scale automated coffee platform

Unity Coffee, which was founded by ex-Costa and Coffee Nation entrepreneur Scott Martin, has raised £2 million in its second funding round, following London pilot tests. This takes the total raised thus far to £3 million.

Unity is building an automated retail platform, pairing beverages with connected hardware, app-based ordering and payments, and real-time loyalty.

It is using the funding to roll out 500+ machines across the next 12 months, scaling its app first coffee stations into high footfall venues including gyms, hotels and flexible workspaces, and forecourts. This roll-out marks the first phase of its wider automated retail platform, spanning both hardware and software upgrades.

After a friends and family raise, the latest round features a consortium of industry figures, including The Imbiba Group, which has backed brands such as Farmer J and F1 Arcade, and angel investor and W Communications CEO Warren Johnson, who has recent exits from investments in businesses to his name including Pizza Pilgrims and The Clinic.

“Big Coffee has spent decades extracting maximum margin from a captive market, but we are here to flip the model. We are committed to offering barista quality drinks at up to 20% cheaper than the high street, powered by a digital platform built for the next decade and socially distributed instant rewards which serve customers and owners,” says Martin.

2026 RTIH Innovation Awards

Automation will be a key focus area at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards.

The awards are now open for entries and celebrate global retail technology innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.

Our winners will be revealed at the 2026 RTIH Innovation Awards Ceremony, taking place at The HAC in Central London on Wednesday, 4th November.

Check out our 2025 winners here.

Our 2025 hall of fame entrants were revealed during a sold out event which took place at The HAC on 16th October and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by award winning comedian, actress and writer Tiff Stevenson.

In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “This is the awards’ fifth year as a physical event. We started off with just 30 people at the South Place Hotel not far from here, then moved to London Bridge Hotel, then The Barbican, and last year RIBA’s HQ in the West End.”

“But I’m conscious of the fact that, to quote the legend that is Taylor Swift, You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby. So, this year we’ve moved to our biggest venue yet, and also pulled in our largest number of entries to date and broken attendance records.”

He added: “This year’s submissions have without doubt been our best yet. To quote one of the judges: The examples of innovative developments across both traditional and digital retail spaces were truly remarkable.”

Congratulations to our winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Tiff Stevenson, and all those who attended our 2025 gathering.