UK: Crowdfunding push helps Perkier close £1m pre-series A round
Healthy snack business eyes operational growth and digital marketing investment after ‘hugely successful’ Seedrs campaign
UK healthy snacks start-up Perkier has raised £1 million in its pre-Series A Seedrs crowdfunding campaign, surpassing its original target of £400,000 by 250%.
The company gained access to over 300 new investors through its Seedrs campaign which ran for 30 days, Perkier founder Ann Perkins told NutritionInvestor.
“Officially we can say that we’ve hit £1 million and we’re 250% versus target. It’s been such a brilliant experience I have to say I’m a massive advocate of the crowdfunding service,” Perkins said of fundraising round.
“It was supposed to be a pre-series A, but it’s knocking on the door of Series A now to be honest. So I think I probably would still say pre-series A but it’s very close to what we were planning to do next year on a Series A,” Perkins added.
Perkins said 40% of its latest funding round came in via Seedrs, while 40% was invested by friends and ex-colleagues from within the company’s network, including contacts from Perkins’ previous role at Heinz.
The final 20% of funding came from existing investors of the company.
Perkins said the capital would be used to build out the start-ups small team of four, particularly in marketing and sales.
Innovation will be another short-term focus for the start-up as it seeks to continue to roll-out new products within six months of concept.
“We like to be very fast to market and very agile. I think the industry average is about 18 months from concept to launch and we usually take six months,” Perkins said.
“Because the round has been so successful, it means we just don’t need to fundraise for quite a while,” she concluded.
Perkier hit supermarket shelves in 2015 and is currently available in three of the four leading UK retailers.