Energy drinks startup Brain Füd is set to launch a crowdfunding campaign to support its move into cans, after a legal spat with Red Bull forced a change to its packaging and slogan.
The natural energy drink maker will take to Seedrs next week, having participated in the platform’s accelerator programme. It is looking for £100k in exchange for a 7% stake in the business, valued at £1.4m.
More than £74k has already been secured in lead investment. However, the brand was entirely open to “significantly overfund” and did not exclude leading more financing rounds in the new year.
Brain Füd is planning to use the investment to fund the manufacturing of its new cans, which will be available to launch in late November.
The brand will then abandon its Tetra Pak cartons, which due to the slogan ‘No Monsters. No Bull’, resulted in legal threats from Red Bull’s IP team over trademark infringement.
Furthermore, cans were more widely associated with energy drinks, said founder Philip Udeh.
“Consumers really understand that energy drinks normally come in a can and we felt that our natural energy proposition wasn’t being communicated strongly enough in the Tetra Pak format,” he added.
“A lot of people would mistake it for a smoothie or a juice, so we wanted to make sure that the functional properties of our products were clear.”
The new aluminium cans were also “infinitely recyclable” as long as they were disposed of correctly, Udeh added. This improved the business’ sustainability efforts as the Tetra Pak cartons were currently not 100% recyclable in the UK.
The cans will come in a more muted colour palette than the previous bright packaging, targeting ‘millennials’ tastes and preferences, with the aim of “pulling in” people who generally would not consume energy drinks.
The brand’s three-strong range is currently listed in 110 Sainsbury’s stores as part of an ongoing trial Brain Füd hopes to extend in the new year. It is also available to buy on Amazon and Ocado.
The new cans will launch into Morrisons’ London stores from Janaury as part of an initiative to engage local producers.
No comments yet