Active Partners

We're excited to announce our new investment into science-led food supplement and nutrition brand ARTAH - B Corp™. ARTAH was founded in 2021 by Rhian Stephenson ND, a Nutritional Therapist and Naturopath, with the goal of helping people feel better and live better through clinical-grade, trustworthy food supplements and nutrition programmes. Since then, its seen impressive growth through DTC and select retailers, including Selfridges and Wholefoods, and expanded from a small portfolio of specialist products to a complete supplement collection, using clinically proven, bioavailable actives with targeted dosages to achieve maximum results. The £2.85m round was led by our friends at Five Seasons Ventures and supported by ourselves and a consortium of consumer-focused angel investors. The funding will be used to accelerate growth across digital and retail, drive new product development and bring their award-winning products to the EU market next year. Congratulations to Rhian and the ARTAH team - we're looking forward to working with you! Read more in The Grocer: https://lnkd.in/ecdUEw-j

Earlier this week, Anna Sweetman was invited to join Entrepreneurs Collective's event all about navigating the UK's fundraising landscape. It was a lively conversation, with fantastic audience questions and insights from fellow speakers including Alexandra Reinert from MMC Ventures and Engin Yenidunya from 21x21. Here are a few key tips Anna shared for early-stage founders looking to raise funds successfully: 💡 Don’t target your #1 choice investor first. Practice your pitch on other investors before you go to your first choice. This will give you confidence and insight into the types of questions you will likely get asked. 💡 Attend founder and investor events. Investors go to events to meet amazing founders so if you see us on the list, get in touch beforehand to arrange to meet. 💡 The best pitch decks are concise, data-driven, and tell a story. Humans remember and buy into stories, so build an emotional connection through powerful storytelling.

Tonight, Anna Sweetman is joining a Startup Fundraising & Investment Panel hosted by Entrepreneurs Collective alongside investors from Kavedon Kapital, 21x21 and MMC Ventures. The conversation will cover a variety of topics around navigating the UK's fundraising landscape, including: 💡 How to stand out to investors 💡 Key decision-making factors for investors 💡 What to expect at different stages of funding 💡 Navigating common fundraising challenges

NORTHERN MONK is now live on Crowdcube and is already overfunding 👏 With an ambition to become Europe’s largest craft brewery by 2035, the new funding will be used to drive three key initiatives: 🍺 Open a flagship London taproom 🍺 Improve the brewery operations and efficiencies 🍺 Turn their original home, The Old Flax Store, into the best craft beer visitor experience in the UK To celebrate, the team has released Join the Rising, the beer. A crowd-pleasing IPA showcasing Crosby hop varieties and utilising their new CGX hop pellets. Find out more: https://lnkd.in/eBUpK8vw 𝘋𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘶𝘯𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩-𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘬 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨. 𝘛𝘢𝘬𝘦 2 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦: 𝘣𝘪𝘵.𝘭𝘺/3𝘶8𝘡𝘛𝘏0

It was fantastic to bring together our Early-Stage founders for a fun evening of padel at our portfolio company Padel Social Club 🎾 The evening kicked off with PSC founder Kristian Hunter teaching us the basics, setting the scene for a lively tournament that brought out everyone's competitive side. Thank you to everyone who joined and Padel Social Club for hosting us!

Are you a consumer founder raising or thinking about raising funding? Join our Early-Stage Investor, Billy Fox, on the 30th of October as he takes his turn to pitch at the rev™ London Consumer Investors Pitch Event. Hosted by Pitchflix and mediaforgrowth (MFG), Billy will share insights into our investment approach, partnering with us and what we're looking for. Link to register in the comments.

Last week, it was great to join a panel discussion about raising investment at the inaugural GROW:F&B (led by Superco - Shopify Plus Partner) event alongside Adam Levene, Rory Gibbs, and Joe Benn. We covered lots of ground - from when is the right time to raise and how to pick the right investor, to red flags that investors look out for (and what founders should look out for too) during the diligence process.    Here are some of my top takeaways from the discussion:    1) Build investor relationships early: Networking with investors (from all stages!) is key to building a strong pipeline for when you're actually looking to fundraise. Sending potential future investors quarterly updates is also a great way to stay top of mind, prove your traction, and show that you're organized. Don't wait until you're reaching a cash cliff to reach out!   2) Be respectful of competition and build alongside them: Talking badly about your competitors is not a good look, especially in the challenger F&B space where sometimes it can take multiple brands in a category to pave the way and really build the market! Instead, focus on differentiating your brand through innovation, collaboration, and shared category growth.    3) Balance ambition with pragmatism in any growth plans: Investors want to see ambition in your growth plans, but they also want to see a well-thought-out roadmap with achievable milestones, backed up by data and market insights. Be prepared to defend your numbers, justify your assumptions, and show a clear understanding of the challenges and opportunities ahead.   4) Choose your investors smartly: You are entering into a long-term relationship with them and you need to be aligned on the goal! Spend time doing diligence on your investors. Reference them with other founders, talk to their portfolio companies, and make sure you're aligned on the vision for the business (this includes growth expectations, timeline, future funding, etc.).   5) Think about sustainable growth: As we're all aware, the days of growth at all costs are over - this is especially true in consumer F&B where it can be incredibly costly to acquire customers due to high CACs. Relying heavily on paid marketing channels without a clear path to retention or repeat purchases can burn through cash quickly. Instead, focus on strategies that drive organic growth, customer loyalty, and lifetime value.   Are you an F&B founder building something exciting and looking to raise early-stage capital? I’d love to hear from you. 🥫 🧃 🍴

“𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘩 𝘗𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘱 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺-𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱𝘴.” Radha Vyas and Lee Thompson founded Flash Pack in 2014 with a mission to redefine solo travel for adventurous 30 and 40- somethings. Their journey since then is one of remarkable resilience, determination and inspiration. For our next Behind the Brand interview, we chatted to Radha all about building Flash Pack, twice. From the famous Rio selfie which first put the business on the map to their incredible comeback after Covid put the business into administration, its well worth a read. Highlights include: 💡 How they create new friendships and deep connections through immersive travel 💡 The unique marketing ideas which engage with real-world issues and help to drive awareness of the transformative potential of Flash Pack 💡 What happened during Covid and how they persevered to buy the business assets back to start again 💡 What they learnt from bootstrapping the business before Covid to raising £7.8 million for Flash Pack 2.0 💡 Radha’s top advice for other founders? Take a salary to futureproof the business Read more: https://lnkd.in/ei5-Kd_N

Anna Sweetman in Active's early-stage team will be joining 35+ of Europe's top VCs in Impact <> Investor Office Hours on 30th October 2024. Led by impact accelerator Unrest, in collaboration with Google Cloud and Carta, this initiative helps impact founders progress on their fundraising journey.  This is an exciting opportunity for impact founders to connect with top-tier investors—whether it’s to make connections, get advice, or pitch for funding. We're looking forward to it! You can find out more and apply in the link in the comments.

Congratulations to our portfolio company Urban Legend on securing new investment from Mondelēz International's corporate venture capital arm, SnackFutures Ventures 🍩 👏 Urban Legend is shaking up the bakery category with its better-for-you, fresh doughnuts. Made using its custom-designed and patented air frying technology, the doughnuts have 30% to 75% less sugar, fat and calories compared to traditionally made alternatives. 💬 Anthony Fletcher, Founder & CEO of Urban Legend said: "As a scientist and advocate for well-being, I saw a need and opportunity to tackle innovation in one of the toughest categories, and bring something truly unique to fresh bakery. Our combination of novel technology and extensive recipe development has enabled us to be the first ones to deliver iconic doughnuts and pastries with less sugar, fat and calories to the south of England. A partner like Mondelez provides enormous opportunity to scale that possibility throughout Europe and the world." Read more: https://lnkd.in/emdJk9qE