Vegan confectionery start-up Fellow Creatures has landed nationwide retail listings after securing six-figure backing from investors, including Veganuary founder Matthew Glover’s Veg Capital.
Founder Zsolt Stefkovics – who started the brand in 2019 – said his ambition was to build “the Oatly of plant-based chocolate”.
Fellow Creatures produces a five-strong range of premium Swiss chocolate using creamed coconut in place of milk.
Its bars are now available in WH Smith travel outlets across the country and in 70 Sainsbury’s stores as part of the supermarket’s ‘Taste of the Future’ incubation initiative.
The new listings followed a £450,000 funding round backed by a cadre of plant-based investors, including Veg Capital, the accelerator programme at non-governmental organisation ProVeg International and Ryan Bethencourt, US entrepreneur and CEO of Wild Earth, which makes plant-based pet food.
Stefkovics, who grew up in a family of dairy farmers in Hungary, said: “These new listings will go a long way to help strengthen our position as a leading plant-based chocolate and make non-dairy chocolate even more accessible.”
He added he started the brand after going vegan and struggling to find a free-from chocolate to rival traditional brands made using dairy.
Veg Capital managing director Matthew Glover said Fellow Creatures hit a gap in the market for premium alternatives to chocolate.
“I 100% believe in the business and look forward to supporting it through its ambitious growth plans,” he added
Earlier this month the specialist private fund expanded its portfolio of vegan brands with the acquisition of organic pie maker Clive’s Purely Plants.
Veg Capital, which invests primarily in early-stage plant-based companies, has backed more than 10 vegan brands since launching in June 2020, including Mighty Pea, This, Plantifull, Naked Snacks, Planty and One Planet Pizza.
The Fellow Creatures range is made up of ‘creamy milkless chocolate’, ‘creamy hazelnut chocolate’, ‘raspberry white chocolate’, ‘matcha white chocolate’ and ‘salted caramel chocolate’, which is marketed as a vegan alternative to Caramac.
The 70g bars are available starting at £3.
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