Wakuli

About Wakuli

Wakuli is a specialty coffee company founded in Amsterdam in 2019 by college friends Lukas Grosfeld and Yorick Bruins. The idea for the company originated from Bruins' experience as an agricultural consultant in East Africa, where he observed coffee cooperatives struggling financially. This led to the mission of shortening the coffee supply chain to ensure farmers receive fair compensation. Initially conceived as a B2B marketplace to connect farmers with roasters, the business pivoted to a direct-to-consumer model after facing rejection from supermarkets. Wakuli is a specialty coffee company founded in Amsterdam in 2019 by college friends Lukas Grosfeld and Yorick Bruins. The idea for the company originated from Bruins' experience as an agricultural consultant in East Africa, where he observed coffee cooperatives struggling financially. This led to the mission of shortening the coffee supply chain to ensure farmers receive fair compensation. Initially conceived as a B2B marketplace to connect farmers with roasters, the business pivoted to a direct-to-consumer model after facing rejection from supermarkets. The company operates on a direct trade and direct-to-consumer model, procuring green coffee beans from farmer cooperatives in approximately 15 countries and roasting them in the Netherlands. This vertically integrated approach bypasses intermediaries, allowing Wakuli to pay farmers significantly higher prices—often double the standard rate—while offering consumers fresh, specialty-grade coffee at competitive prices. Wakuli's business is structured around an omnichannel strategy, combining online subscriptions with a growing network of physical coffee bars, which numbered 20 across the Netherlands as of late 2025. The bars serve to introduce a wider audience to specialty coffee and the company's mission. A core tenet of Wakuli's strategy is the implementation of a fully regenerative coffee supply chain. The company establishes long-term partnerships with farmer groups, enabling them to invest in climate-friendly and regenerative farming practices such as shade-grown agroforestry, soil restoration, and the elimination of synthetic fertilizers. Wakuli aims for all its partners to utilize regenerative agricultural practices by 2027. To date, the company has raised a total of $11.4M (€9.25M) through several funding rounds, with investors including ABN AMRO Sustainable Impact Fund, Rubio Impact Ventures, Icecat Capital, Rabobank, and the European Circular Bioeconomy Fund (ECBF). This capital is being used to expand its network of coffee bars in the Netherlands and for international expansion.