Premium pork snack brand Snaffling Pig has smashed its crowdfunding target, raising £1.3m to fund its expansion into the wider pork market.
The Berkshire-based business took to Crowdcube last month seeking £750k in exchange for a 7% stake – valuing the company at £10m.
It closed the raise this week, overfunding by 160% and upping the equity offered to 10.8%.
The campaign attracted the highest number of investors in any food brand to date on the platform, with 1,945 individual investors.
“We had an epic end to our crowdfunding. It was a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions, but we got there in the end,” co-founder and CEO Nick Coleman said.
“We are the most popular food brand to have ever crowdfunded which is an amazing achievement.
“We have proven that despite the share of voice that veganism, high-protein and CBD products have, the humble pork scratching is still the most backable brand that has ever been on crowdfunding.”
He added: “For me this reinforces what we are all about. We know you need to exercise and eat well but sometimes you just need to let loose and be human.”
On the back of the fundraise’s success, Snaffling Pig is aiming to bring its five-year plan forward, hoping to increase its 2019’s expected £5.2m turnover to £20m within three years. By 2024, it plans to achieve sales of £30m.
At the campaign’s launch, Coleman told The Grocer the investment would go towards funding the launch of a range of chilled pork products, featuring sausages, bacon, cooked hams and pork joints.
Last January, the five-year-old brand started its venture into the £3.2bn chilled pork market with the launch of a range of gammon steaks featuring pork crackling into Sainsbury’s.
The range expanded into 200 Tesco stores last month and has so far performed “really well”, Coleman added.
Snaffling Pig’s range – including pork scratchings, sauces, beers, ciders and peanuts – is currently available from a wide array of retailers and pubs including Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Ocado and Co-op among others.
The company is also the maker of several gift sets – including a ceramic barbecue and pork crackling advent calendars – retailing in Debenhams, John Lewis, Selfridges and Fenwick.
Regardless of the amount splurged into the brand, every investor became a member of Snaffling Pig’s Swine Dining Club, with a raft of meet-ups and events to be organised throughout the year.
“We wanted to create an exclusive membership for our investors and give them a forum to get together, let their hair down, learn and challenge themselves,” Coleman said.
“What we really want to do is create a physical community that can get together. We exist to get people to talk, we are a cheeky indulgence but we create conversations.”
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