UK Vegan Startup THIS Aims To Raise £2 Million In Crowdfunding Campaign

Popular plant-based meat brand THIS is preparing a crowdfunding campaign to raise at least £2 million. 

The company says it aims to “accelerate growth rather than just staying alive”. 

The new crowdfunding campaign is set to launch on Seedrs in August. 

Until now, THIS has raised £5.6m in VC funds, including a £4.7m round led by London-based fund Backed in January. 

THIS produces meat alternatives made with pea and soy protein such as vegan bacon - This Isn’t Bacon, and vegan chicken - This Isn’t Chicken. Both products are bestsellers at TheVeganKind Supermarket. 

Since its inception in 2019, the brand has been growing fast. The monthly revenue in its seventh month of trading (Veganuary 2020) reached £370k.

In April, THIS announced it sold three million portions of its plant-based meat, growing at a rate of 35% month to month, with total revenues since the launch of over £3m.

Co-founder Andy Shovel told The Grocer that the raise would be made as a convertible loan note raise, offering a 20% discount on a future investment round (possibly in 2021).

The company would consider overfunding past the £2m target if the demand was “really high”.

THIS will use the money to open a 'Willy Wonka’esque' plant-based innovation centre in London, where a team of protein experts, including food scientists, engineers and project managers will work to accelerate NPD for the business. The funds will also go to increase marketing spend and production volume to keep up with the demand. 

Shovel told The Grocer: “The plan is to make it so that once we have an idea for a new product, it is on the market as soon as possible, in a good case within three months.”

“The coronavirus outbreak has affected us mostly positively, which makes us really lucky because so many businesses are struggling,” Shovel said. 

“The one negative is that our foodservice partners have mostly been either minimally trading or not trading at all, and we had a big pipeline, and we were doing great volumes with them. 

“But the retail side of the business spiked, we have seen much bigger volumes, and we have had a good reception from new retailers, and I have the feeling that buyers are extra motivated to provide a really diversified range during this period when people are relying more on eating at home.”

If you'd like to invest in THIS, you can pre-register via https://this.seedrs.com