Plant-based chocolate producer Fellow Creatures has secured a £450,000 investment and UK-wide listings with WH Smith and Sainsbury’s.
The Edinburgh-based business secured the funding through ProVeg’s International’s accelerator programme that helps plant-based brands raise money.
Selected from more than 250 start-ups, Fellow Creatures was just one of six companies to be supported in the initiative’s 2020 cohort.
Originally from a dairy farming family, vegan founder Zsolt Stefkovics took a different approach to developing chocolate, using creamed coconut instead of milk or butter.
“This investment will go a long way to help strengthen our position as a leading plant-based chocolate and drive incremental growth through increased retail and online distribution,” he commented.
Veganuary founder Matthew Glover, one of the company's main backers, commented: “We’ve seen the plant-based market boom in recent years, particularly with food and drink alternatives that are targeted at vegans and flexitarians alike.
“Fellow Creatures is one brand that has really hit a gap in the market for premium alternatives to our favourite foods, in this case, chocolate.”
Fellow Creatures is also set to take part in the first-ever FoodHack Demo Day, pitching in front of over 200 investors. Taking place on 6 October, the producer is one of 40 start-ups set to take part.
Fellow Creatures chocolate range is now available at WH Smith travel outlets across the country and 70 Sainsbury’s stores as part of the supermarket’s Taste of the Future incubation initiative.
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