Angel Food, New Zealand’s #1 plant-based food brand, has announced its latest crowdfunding raise, which will launch on PledgeMe on the 19th of June.
Angel Food is looking to raise a minimum of $200,000 (for a share of 4.17% of the company) with a maximum raise of $500,000 (for a share of 9.8% of the company). The minimum investment is $331.00 (for 10 shares at $33.10 per share). The share offer will close on 3 July (or when fully subscribed if earlier).
The capital raised will be used for investment in marketing, innovation (including the continued improvement of existing products and new product development), and talent resource (including the procurement of an experienced GM), while also helping the brand prepare for its launch into Australia in 2024.
Angel Food is Aotearoa’s largest and most experienced plant-based cheese company, going strong for 17 years. Founder and CEO of Angel Food, Alice Shopland (an entrepreneurial vegan activist), and her team have been championing the benefit of embracing plant-based foods long before plant-based and vegan diets were mainstream.
The brand and products resonate with ‘flexitarians’, a newer and much larger market, who are discovering that Angel Food’s products make plant-based eating easy. By choosing to go plant-based, the positive impact is beneficial for both the environment and animals. Plant-based cheese has half the environmental impact of dairy cheese.
Angel Food’s core product focus is dairy-free cheese alternatives, with a production of more than 130 tonnes of cheese per year. Angel Food decided to focus its product range on dairy-free cheese given that it’s a key ingredient in a wide variety of recipes and meals, and they launched their first plant-based cheese commercially made in Aotearoa in 2015.
Angel Food has impressive distribution across all grocery chains plus cafes, restaurants, and quick-service restaurants across New Zealand, as well as companies that supply vegan pies and vegan sausage rolls into petrol stations, so fans can access Angel Food in more than 350 retail stores and an estimated 1000+ food service outlets across New Zealand.
Angel Food is looking to export its products, starting with Australia, and hopes to become the leading plant-based food brand in Australia within the next few years. Angel Food anticipates that its Australian launch will require $1m NZD investment, and this raise will be the first stage of a stepped approach to ensure that they can maximise value for their shareholders at each stage of investment.
Angel Food has a current valuation of $4.6m NZD.* Angel Food’s crowdfunding rounds in 2015 and 2019 have enabled the company to grow fast and establish its leadership position within the plant-based foods sector while the category was in its infancy. To be consistently profitable, Angel Food is aiming for its revenue to exceed $5m NZD, which they believe they will achieve.
Founder and CEO of Angel Food, Alice Shopland, said: “We’re excited to offer potential investors the opportunity to support our purpose-led brand. Despite a few tough years, we’re still #1 in retail and remain New Zealand’s leading plant food brand. Our investors will help us to continue our positive trajectory, while giving us the resources we need to grow and evolve the business to deliver the greatest impact. Now more than ever, we remain committed to our mission of making it easier for more people to choose plant-based meals more often. Where other plant-based categories – like milks, yoghurt, and ice cream are mature and crowded, plant-based cheese is still in its infancy – there is still lots of room for growth. We have great distribution in Aotearoa, and we want to share our range of delicious plant-based products with the world, starting with Australia!”
Company valuation
*The company valuation was undertaken by the company directors with internal and external advice. The figure they arrived at $4.6million, is their current year’s forecast revenue multiplied by 2.
Revenue growth
Revenue growth was between 16% and 133% year on year for the eight years prior to Covid, the greatest growth being: +$258K in FY17 and +$415K in FY21, the second year after each raise. Angel Food’s gross margins are stable at 44-45%; this is a healthy GM% vs FMCG industry average for businesses using third-party manufacturing, sales, and distribution. The business delivered 10.9% EBITDA in FY22 ($236K). However, with the impact of Covid on food service volumes and the economic downturn on retail and food service channels, FY23 EBITDA was negative.
About Angel Food
Whether you’re vegan, vegetarian, or flexitarian our plant-based cheeses are suitable for all diets. Made without gluten, nuts, or soy, so they’re allergy-friendly too! Since 2006 we’ve been making it easier for everybody to choose plant-based meals more often. Everyone loves cheese – our products mean you can pivot to plant-based cheeses rather than going without.
