Trail mix maker Real Handful has smashed its crowdfunding target as it prepares to expand its range with savoury additions.
The healthy snacking startup took to Crowdcube this week, seeking £300k in exchange for a 12% stake – valuing the brand at £2.25m.
The campaign hit its target ahead of its public launch and has so far raised £316k from 128 investors.
As this is set to be Real Handful’s last fundraising effort, the company said it was willing to overfund up to £600k in order to “move faster” towards achieving the goals in its business plan.
The cash would be used to drive sales and marketing activities as well as range expansion – including the launch of savoury trail mixes with flavours such as BBQ, Salt & Vinegar and Sweet & Salty set to hit the mults at the end of Q1.
Co-founder and commercial director Joe Taylor said: “Our number one priority is to help our existing customers grow their fruit & nuts snacking category.
“We think fruit & nut snacking still has huge growth potential in the UK but sometimes gets neglected among the funkier categories such as popcorn. We are trying to add lots of flavour, unruliness and brand personality into the category.”
Further cash from overfunding would allow the brand increased “flexibility”, Taylor added, as it explored the option to expand its international presence, beyond Ireland and Denmark, in the next couple of months – with enquiries from Asia, Australia and the Middle East.
The four-year-old brand, stocked by more than 2,000 UK stores including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Waitrose, saw revenues rise over 100% to around £450k in 2019 after selling more than a million snacks.
Current revenues forecasts see turnover rising 127% to £1m in 2020 to then reach £11.4m by 2023.
“The forecast for this year is very largely built on doing more of what we are doing already, coupled with a few international markets we plan to launch into and the savoury additions,” Taylor said.
“The bulk of what we want to do in 2020 is consolidating what we did last year, building distribution and getting the brand into more consumers’ hands.”
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