Plant-based brand This has raised a £15m funding round as it seeks to maintain its rapid growth across the UK and into new markets.
The series B round includes £4.7m raised on investment platform Seedrs last year and more than £10m from institutional investors, including BGF, Lever VC, Backed, and others, with plans to take the brand overseas in 2023.
Yearly revenues at the meat alternatives brand now stand at about £24m three years after launching, and saw increased sales of nearly £2m in January as a result of Veganuary.
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The series B funding round follows an £11m series A round in 2021, an initial crowd raise of more than £4m in 2020 and £8.7m of seed funding.
It launched its This™ Isn’t Pork Meatballs and Spaghetti, This™ Isn’t Chicken Thai Green Curry and This™ Isn’t Pork Sausages and Mash in Tesco in September.
This was followed by its ‘Isn’t Pork Pigs in Blankets’ in time for the festive period in November.
As well as its range of products being stocked by the major grocery chains, This also supplies Greggs and Caffe Nero.
“We’ve managed to buck the miserable fundraising trend at the moment and close a fantastic funding round for the brand,” co-founder Andy Shovel, told The Grocer.
He added: “Our investors’ confidence has predominantly come from our punchy growth and really strong R&D pipeline. We’ve also got lots of data to show we’re championing the recruitment of meat-eaters into the plant-based category, who haven’t shopped in it before.
“We’re all really excited to go from plucky SME to industry-leading powerhouse,” Shovel said.
It comes as the brand launched This Isn’t Streaky Bacon back in December, which the business said is already the UK’s best-selling plant-based bacon from launch.
