Pizza Pilgrims secures £3.5m funding towards expansion

Pizza Pilgrims has secured a £3.5m investment from Imbiba towards its expansion, including the opening of four new London restaurants this year.

The casual dining chain will launch in Lower Marsh, Finsbury Park, Marble Arch and Queensway by 2022.

Pizza Pilgrims was founded by brothers James and Thom Elliot and opened its first restaurant in London's Soho in 2013. It has since grown to 14 sites in London and one in Oxford.

Over the past year the group opened new concept Slice on the Southbank and launched nationwide deliveries of its Pizza in the Post meal kits.

James said: "It's been a mad journey from Soho market stall to 14 pizzerias across London and we are very excited for the next chapter of our pilgrimage!

"The team at Imbiba are a perfect fit for us and have a genuine passion for food and restaurants. We feel very confident that they are going to help us grow, but in the right way.

"The most important thing is that we keep the pizza and the company culture we've developed over that last 10 years at the front of everything we do".

Darrel Connell, a partner at hospitality investor Imbiba, has joined the Pizza Pilgrims board.

Imbiba has also backed bar group Darwin & Wallace, Vagabond wine bars and recently invested £1.4m in the expansion of retro-arcade bar NQ64.