Plant-based protein powder startup Neat Nutrition has launched a crowdfunding campaign to fund NPD and break into new sales channels.
The 2015-established company, co-founded by GB swimmers Lee Forster and Charlie Turner, hit Crowdcube last week looking to raise a minimum of £125k, in exchange for a 4.16% stake at a valuation of £2.9m.
The business, which in 2018 raised £1.5m from private investors, has banked over £92k so far from 96 investors.
Neat is confident it will achieve its target and “welcomes overfunding” up to another 100%, Turner told The Grocer.
“With the majority of the raise ring-fenced for NPD and acquisition marketing, it would allow us to accelerate growth plans and realise projected revenue earlier,” he added.
The campaign was planned well ahead of the coronavirus crisis, he explained, adding the brand chose to go ahead with the launch as “we ultimately believed in the strength of our community and that it’s more important than ever to strengthen the two-way relationship between Neat Nutrition and its supporters”.
Neat Nutrition launched with both whey and vegan protein blends, but it is committed to focus solely on developing plant-based products as the category grows.
Its products are available DTC on a flexible subscription service. It has sold over a million shakes so far, in more than 33 countries.
The company plans to use the cash raised to fund NPD that has already been developed, expand into differentiated sales channels and embark on the path to become a B Corp.
On the NPD front, the business is confident it will be able to launch the new range on schedule despite the disruptions caused by the coronavirus.
“Thankfully we’ve been working hard in the background over the past 12-18 months on a couple of new plant-based brand extensions and the majority of the R&D work has already been completed,” said Turner.
“Thus far our manufacturing setup hasn’t been affected at all so we’re still very confident in being able to release additional products using new and exciting plant-based ingredients on schedule.”
The company achieved revenues of £201k in 2019 and projects sales of £902k in 2020. By the second quarter of 2021 Neat is aiming to break even.
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