UK startup Livia’s already has a following of 200,000 and is backed by a plethora of respected investors in the industry including Jaap Korteweg (founder of Vegetarian Butcher), Michiel van Deursen (entrepreneur and investor focussing on plant-based businesses), and ex Mars president of ten years Andy Weston-Webb.
Livia’s is running a crowdfunding campaign on Seedrs which is already open to private investors to huge success, and the campaign will be open to the public tomorrow 6th August. Founder Olivia Wollenberg says her brand is on a mission to make better-for-you treats accessible to everyone. Her products have proven mainstream appeal: 73% of Livia’s consumers aren’t vegan, and 47% of these consumers in fact have no dietary requirements.
An ex-student of neuroscience, Wollenberg noticed a gap in the market when diagnosed with severe food intolerances. Her recipes are developed in-house and sold through major retailers including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, and Boots, as well as direct to consumer through the website and on Amazon.
The investment raised will help launch a new line of new products, develop a D2C platform, grow marketing and sales teams, and scale operations. By 2025 Livia’s will be distributing and selling throughout Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the US. According to the company, in the next 12 months the product range will have tripled if not quadrupled.
Olivia Wollenberg, Founder and CEO of Livia’s says: ” I’ve always wanted to bring our customers and community on board as we continue to grow. From day one, our community has been at the heart of everything we do, and every decision we make, and now is the time for them to be involved in a more meaningful way. With this raise, we will be able to accelerate our growth in the UK and beyond while continuing to revolutionise sweet snacking through product innovation. “
Prolific vegan investor Michiel van Deursen who has participated in the round said of the crowdfunding, “Investing in the plant based space is getting more mainstream and every day new funds and angels are getting in. Great news! However most of them are only concentrating on one thing. And that is mostly meat. Because the Beyond Meat IPO showed them that is a fast growing market. That is why I currently focus on other areas of vegan investing. The next markets to be disrupted, for example Ananas Anam Ltd (leather), Lighter (software), allplants (meals). And now Livia’s. Because vegan is more than replacing meat and the world deserves all these amazing companies!”
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
