Jessica Warren

The UK's food scene is evolving, with consumers increasingly seeking out healthy, exotic, and sustainable options. That's where açaí comes in—a superfood that perfectly fits the bill. Investing in an açaí franchise like Jungle Berry offers a unique opportunity to tap into this growing market. Açaí is not just a trend; it's a nutritional powerhouse that's rapidly gaining popularity among health-conscious Brits. At Jungle Berry, we elevate the açaí experience with sustainably sourced ingredients, free from syrups and artificial sweeteners, and complement it with a variety of offerings like smoothies, power juices, and Brazilian specialties. By bringing açaí to the UK, you're not just introducing a product—you're offering a lifestyle choice that aligns with the increasing demand for healthy, natural, and flavourful foods. Join the movement and make a meaningful impact with a Jungle Berry franchise. jungleberryfranchise.com #FranchiseOpportunity #Açaí #UKFoodTrends #JungleBerry #SustainableBusiness

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Really interesting report by Paul Charity and Propel that Soft drinks surge as Gen Z move away from alcoholic drinks. At Boxfund VC we are keen to support non alcoholic drink alternatives. If you’ve got a great product that needs help and funding to grow please contact us at www.boxfund.co.uk ‘ The on premise is witnessing a marked decrease in alcohol consumption across the globe, a shift evident in the UK, with a -23pp net decrease, resulting in a growing appetite for soft drink options, according to CGA by NIQ’s OPUS data. Among the legal drinking age (LDA) to 24-year-old demographic, almost a third (30%) report drinking less than they did a year ago, with 13% completely abstaining from alcohol. This demographic is also more health-conscious, with three quarters striving to lead a healthier lifestyle (74%) and actively seeking to make environmentally conscious choices (73%). However, this reduction in alcohol intake has not negatively impacted younger consumers’ engagement with the on premise sector, with 86% of LDA-24 year old consumers having visited the on premise in the last three months and 60% going out weekly (over-indexing by +17pp versus the average for all GB consumers). Despite the growing preference for non-alcoholic drinks, the total soft drinks sales performance has remained flat. Although certain segments are showing promise, with a +8% year-on-year (YOY) value increase in bars and bar restaurants and a +2.7% YOY value growth in hotels. This data indicates untapped potential for soft drinks during higher tempo occasions, especially among younger consumers who are increasingly adopting ‘zebra striping’ – alternating between alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks throughout the night. In fact, 18-24-year-olds are more likely to choose soft drinks in a bar or late-night setting, over-indexing by +6pp versus the average consumer. In terms of consumer preferences when it comes to soft drinks, the focus on fizz remains intact, holding half (49%) of the market share despite health trends bolstering the rate of sale for sport drinks, water plus and juice drinks. This effervescent outlook is driven by consumer desire for value for money and the increased consumption of fizzy drinks among 18-24-year-olds, with almost a third (30%) reporting they are drinking more carbonated soft drinks than a year ago. CGA client director Violetta Njunina said: “As moderation becomes a key trend, particularly among younger generations, the ability to offer appealing, high-quality and health-conscious soft drinks is crucial for success. Suppliers who tap into these insights and align their strategies are better positioned to lead in this new era of beverage consumption.”

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Founders are creative people, full of ideas. (which rarely materialises) Ideas, ideas, ideas, they keep flowing. In our hipster Hackney site, we had an idea to increase drinks sales. Herb Garden signature cocktails. I know I know, sounds great. Here is one: TEAGRONI Classic Negroni infused w English Breakfast Tea garnished w Crispy Parma Ham - Flowers - Herbs - Garnishes The launch went incredibly well. Customers (and staff) loved it. Sounds amazing, I know. BUT, it turned out to be a disaster. No proper processes and procedures caused inconsistency. Staff blamed the company, company blamed staff. We had to stop it. Customer: “I came for Teagroni and brought friends and you are telling me that you do not do it anymore?! This is embarrassing. Ridiculous!” There we go → ideas not executed properly can seriously damage your business. --- I’m Edin. Idea-scale up-exit. I've done it! DM me to help you do the same.

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For the UK people, I've heard/read that the color BLUE on a drinks menu is becoming the defacto standard color to signify No-Lo Alcoholic drinks. Just seeing if this is something you are seeing more frequently in UK bars/restaurants and if its catching on with most UK consumers, trade people, and those in the No-Lo industry in general. It does bring up an interesting point of the No-Lo sector coming up with an "Universal" symbol or color to denote No-Lo drinks on a menu. This of course is easier said than done as there are cultural differences with color, symbols, words etc... worldwide or even within countries. Also, we as an industry can't even come up with consistent ABV for No/Low drinks, consistent criteria for terms "alcohol-free", "non-alcoholic", "low-alcoholic", and terminology for NA cocktails or is it mocktails? Your thoughts?

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Impact founders, this one's for you! 🚀 On October 30th, Unrest is launching Impact <> Investor Office Hours where 60 purpose-driven founders get 1-1 time with Europe’s top angels and VC funds, including investors from Speedinvest, Sequoia, Octopus Ventures and many more. This is an incredible opportunity to gather feedback, build relationships, and potentially accelerate your fundraising journey. Why you should apply: 💥 Top Investors: Connect directly with Europe's leading VCs and angels—no warm intro required. 💡 1:1 Feedback: Receive personalised advice and insights from investment experts (serious potential to propel your progress) 👥 Build Relationships: Get the chance to build connections that extend far beyond this initiative 📤 Exposure: Even if you’re not selected, your application will be sent to all participating investors! Having been part of the Unrest spring cohort this year, I have experienced first hand how brilliant the team is to support impact founders finding and making the right connections. I'll definitely be applying for this too. 🚀 Hurry to not miss out, as applications close on October 10th. You can find the application link and more details in the comments. Panayiotis (Pan) Demetriou Orr Vinegold Anas Hassan Liesa MillerShola Forbes

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  👏👏 The two largest funding rounds in March on Seedrs were our portfolio company Laundryheap, the on-demand wash and dry clean firm, closing a £1.3M funding round, ahead of its £1m target, and vegan food brand THIS, which closed a £1.4 million securities offering. Congrats to both companies! https://lnkd.in/eyeNkx8D   Laundryheap is now generating £20m+ in annual run rate and, in Q4 2023, achieved positive EBITDA. "Our profits, together with this funding, will allow us to be more aggressive in our growth plans and scale the Laundryheap service even faster," a statement on Seedrs said.   Funding will be used to expand Laundryheap's marketing channels, further develop its sales team in new markets and progress acquisition deals.   #scaleup #vc #techstocks More information 👇 https://lnkd.in/e6Sd6rQx

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I wrote this piece for all the #founders who have felt the pressure - either implicit or explicit - from #investors to 'bring in the pros' 😫. I'm sure that many of you have your horror stories to share... Although talk of #foundermode has had #SiliconValley buzzing since Paul Graham (of Ycombinator fame) released his post - yay, vindication for founders 🎉 - it's important we don't use 'founder mode' as a free pass for founders to do whatever they want to do. Instead we need to take the time to define what a scaled up version of founder mode looks like (and I'm sure there are as many successful versions of it as there are successful founders). In case helpful for those founders who are earlier in their journey, here's how we're doing it in version 3.0 of Olio • Share More, Waste Less....

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One of the biggest challenges for the non-alc category? 👀 Consumer education on how complex it is to produce alcohol alternatives, in order to justify price. Our Founder, Daniel Rowntree spoke about this at Brewers Congress after learning from Caitlín McErlean of CLOUDWATER BREW CO LTD about just how lengthy the non-alc brewing process can be! The solution for brands? Perhaps instead of gatekeeping the process, show your customers behind the scenes, explain and educate. What do you think we can do to combat this as an industry? #highanddry #brewerscongress #nonalcohol #brewing #alcoholindustry

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I have some big news! THE PACK is raising on Crowdcube 
 After serving over 250,000 plant-based meals to dogs across the UK, we are delighted to open up early access to THE PACK | Certified B Corp upcoming equity Crowdfunding campaign Judy Nadel and I have built THE PACK, on the core belief that plant-based dog food needs to taste great and provide our dogs with outstanding nutrition. 
Our Mission:

Our mission is to build a healthier generation of dogs and take a bite out of the climate crisis. 
How do we do this: THE PACK, crafts unique formulations in partnership with animal nutritionists, vets and food technologists. We are rigorous in our testing of new foods to ensure they are high performance products that give dogs the best life. Products to-date:

We launched the company with our plant-based meat stew wet foods, a total first for the European pet food industry, hypoallergenic and soya free. Late last year we launched our category defining dried food THE PACK, Oven Baked Crunchy Feast with an average rating of 4.90 out of 5.00 This product is a superstar ⭐️⭐️

Our Products are:
 - 100% Plant-Based - Plastic Free - Soy Free - Premium Nutrition - Highly Digestibe 90%+ - Contain pre and post biotics Proven Team: You will be joining a proven team and an incredible group of investors including the likes of Michiel van Deursen, BOSH! by Henry Firth & Ian Theasby Jan Klerken Leo Groenewegen, Kale United, Veg Capital, Accel, Mars Petcare, Loui Blake, CHRIS SMALLING , Simon Day Alicia Robb Kerstin Robinson Stephanie Peritore Victoria Betoeski, Simon Newstead and more 🐶⭐️

Our Journey to includes: - Europe’s first plant-based pet food startup certified B Corp - Finalist PET worldwide Best Newcomer Award 2024 - Finalist Pet Innovation Awards Best New Product 2022 - 250,000 + meals sold in the UK to-date - Over 200 subscribers to regular orders - Listing with Planet Organic Sign up to early-access today and be part of our journey. Link in comments Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment.  #startup #funding #investment #business #crowdcube #pet #petfood #petindustry #plantbased #vegan

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Italy has a new VC Fund🌟 🏦The Italian Founders Fund (IFF), which has closed at €50m with backing from over 100 Italian founders. IFF aims to invest in pre-seed and seed-stage startups founded by Italians, regardless of where they are based. This development is a positive sign for Italy's startup ecosystem, which has been gradually improving. Serial founders are returning to Italy to start new businesses, family offices are showing increasing interest in venture investments, and Italy now boasts three unicorns: software builder Bending Spoons, and fintech companies Satispay and Scalapay.🦄🦄🦄 📉Despite these advancements, Italy’s startup funding dipped last year to €1.3bn from 2022’s $2bn, amid a broader downturn in the ecosystem. This year has also been slow, with just over €500m raised across 155 rounds. However, IFF believes that the trend is upward from here. "A new chapter has begun for the Italian venture capital ecosystem," says Lorenzo Franzi, IFF's founding partner and former partner at Global Founders Capital. 🏃‍♂️IFF aims to lead investments in 25 startups, writing cheques of €500k to €1.5m, and reserving up to €2.5m per company for follow-on investments. Its first two investments are Jet HR, which raised €4.7m last summer led by Exor Ventures (the largest pre-seed round in Italy), and Glaut, which announced a $1.4m pre-seed round led by IFF in April. The fund is managed by Koinos Capital SGR, an investment firm based in Milan.🤝 📈While funding for Italian startups has been growing, Italy still ranks eighth in Europe by VC investment, according to Dealroom. IFF aims to help Italy catch up both in quantity and quality of investments. With €50m to invest in 25 companies, IFF positions itself as a sector-agnostic, founder-friendly fund that understands the pain points of entrepreneurs. 🦸‍♂️"IFF is addressing the challenge for early-stage founders in Italy to find a high-conviction lead investor at the pre-seed and seed stages," Franzi told TechCrunch. Despite the presence of other VC firms in Italy like CDP Venture Capital SGR, Exor Ventures, and LVenture Group, Franzi believes there is still a gap for early-stage capital. 🚀IFF also complements accelerators and provides a step up from the angel investing that Franzi and other entrepreneur-turned-backers had been engaged in. The creation of IFF is a significant step towards strengthening Italy's venture capital landscape and supporting its early-stage founders. ✅ Looking to raise capital for your #VCfund and increase the international pool of your LPs?   🤝 Need warm #LP introductions?   📝 Selling #secondaries to increase liquidity?   🧐 Looking for co-investments (Series A/Series B)?   ▶ G+QUANT's link for inquiries and fund decks: https://lnkd.in/gjC_EuTE #VentureCapital #VentureFunding #VentureDebt #Fundraising #Entrepreneurship #Investing #Network #Investors #LPs #GPs #EmergingManagers #StartupFunding

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So disheartening to see that funding to female founders has fallen. Over the past 6 months I have upped my networking game and I have met soooo many amazing female founders who have built brilliant businesses, and yet we don't get anywhere near the focus, attention and investment as male founded businesses. How do we change this?! #femalefounders #investinfemales #womeninbusiness

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The news of consumer goods distributor Supreme acquiring white label manufacturer Clearly Drinks for £15Mn from private equity firm NorthEdge this week is a shot in the arm for the Food & Beverage industry, that has seen very little M&A activity recently. AIM-listed Supreme has paid 5x EBITDA for the Sunderland-based business, which is a contract manufacturer for a number of the world’s largest soft drinks companies. Supreme are aiming to leverage their expertise and resources to further develop Clearly Drinks' market position and expand its operations, as part of a broader diversification strategy, according to Sandy Chadha, Supreme's Chief Executive Officer. Supreme also recently established a Sports Nutrition & Wellness division to produce wellness and energy drinks. It shows the FoodBev industry is brimming with new opportunities for patient investors. Although, some might argue that in Clearly Drinks' case taking 135 years to get to a £15Mn valuation is not that attractive. 'Clearly' Supreme are seeing it differently! #MichaelHCowan #GlobalStrategicAdvisor #ConsumerBrands #FoodBev #aahVentures #Advisory #Investment #Growth https://loom.ly/zcB9vl0 Source/credit: William Dodds, Food Manufacture

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⏰There is a Tick Tock pulse in fundraising and sales⏱️ If Tick is fundraising, Tock is sales. ❌ The problem is most founders go Tick Tick Tick > Tock Tock Tock ❗️Now the next Tick will be much harder because your valuation has now priced in all that past revenue (fair) but without a clear line of sight to future revenues that drive venture-scale growth. 🕥This can prolong the fundraising process as investors wait to see your next batch of contracts come in. 💡One solution is to fundraise after signing a contract but before servicing it. In other words, pre-A/B rounds. It’s a short window but this is the Tick Tock pulse that works incredibly well if you get it right. Here’s the narrative: 1️⃣We have $x in signed contracts and will have to service them over the next 12 months 2️⃣We’re raising now so we can focus on pleasing our customers when the time comes. 3️⃣For this peace of mind, we’re willing to take a 20% discount on our next round valuation given the contracts are already signed. 4️⃣Of course, you are welcomed to join after we’ve closed the revenues. We might be raising at 20% discount to the following round by then. 💡As an added benefit, founders get to focus on one thing at a time - fundraising > sales > fundraising > sales (Tick Tock Tick Tock!) ➡️As with most things I share, works for B2B deep tech. I think? 🧐 💸Don’t try this at home (consumer tech).

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LATEST UPDATE: We are delighted to announce that Tobias Reimann-Dubbers has joined Mustard Seed + Partners as an Investment Associate into our Growth division! Tobias "re-joins" MS+ having previously worked for 2 years within the Growth & Strategy team at Collectiv Food | Certified B Corp (a MS+ portfolio company). Most recently, Tobias interned at Eurazeo within their Venture team, based in London. At MS+ we continue to build a bench of best-in-class talent, hiring individuals who deeply align with our mission of backing European champions addressing the world’s largest environmental and social sustainability challenges. High growth, global impact. We are just getting started! #highgrowthglobalimpact #impactinvesting #growthimpact #article9 #SFDR #growthequity #privateequity #responsibleinvesting #sustainableinvesting #BCorp #Europeanimpact #environmentalsustainability #climateinvesting

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Tesco has just launched an online marketplace, giving their customers the ability to shop thousands of third-party products alongside their groceries. Why this is a game-changer: Tesco noticed that customers were searching for products they didn’t carry. This new marketplace addresses those gaps, offering a wider range of items. For instance, “suitcases” were a top search with no results. Now, customers can find them easily on Tesco.com while earning clubcard points. How it Works~ - Products appear alongside Tesco groceries on Tesco.com and the Tesco app. - Items are fulfilled directly by the suppliers. - Separate payments and delivery fees for third-party items. - Free standard delivery for orders over £50 from the same seller or for Anytime Delivery Saver members. - customers can earn Clubcard points on all purchases! So far 17 vetted sellers at launch, including brands like Tefal, Silentnight, Tommee Tippee, and Charles Bentley. Sellers are monitored for delivery speed, returns, and success rates. They will also soon have the ability for Customer ratings and reviews. #TescoMarketplace #NewLaunch https://lnkd.in/d86AJeVb

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With some time on our hands, we’ve launched a little project tooearly with a single and quite simple idea in-mind: personalised help for promising first-time founders. There is an abundance of resources online, but not enough 1:1 feedback, materials revision, as well as hands-on and community support. After working as a first-ticket/pre-seed investor, I’ve noticed how many stellar individuals out there are a little unsure when it comes to navigating the founding and fundraising journey (from ideation, to validating the hypotheses, speaking to the right customers, building your fundraising OS and raising VC funding), especially as first-time founders. If you’re looking to build something game-changing, let’s speak. Besides support, we will invite VCs to Investment Committees whenever we see actual winners inside the community to give them a kick-start on their raising journey. !!P.S. We have a 30% discount for the first 20 people who join. OMG!! Little disclaimer: This platform by no means suggest that everyone should raise from VCs or glorifies it (as it’s a tough journey), but this should help you figure out the best trajectory for your idea, and if the VC trajectory is indeed the right one for you, after some months, you should be ready to go out there and start speaking to investors (not stay with us forever, only if you wish to 😉 ). Martynas Cepas - a partner in crime 🙌

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"With the indications of growth, popularity and investment continuing, the coming 12 months into 2025 will prove a breakthrough year for #Asian drinks producers" "Unique products such as Li Hing Mu (salted plums), Dashi (Japanese soup stock) and Shio Koji (an umami condiment made from fermented rice) are all appearing on cocktail menus as bartenders worldwide explore the flavour opportunities that the Asian food and drink markets are providing" We would love to see this trend in operators like Loungers plc Mitchells & Butlers PLC Stonegate Group Greene King Fuller, Smith & Turner Young's Pubs "huge indication of where the market for Asian spirits is going in the UK and it shows a clear opportunity for distributors to satisfy the increasing demand for Asian spirits and drinks" Something that distributors like Booker Group Matthew Clark LWC Drinks Inverarity Morton Dunns Food and Drinks Enotria Winecellars Ltd (T/A Enotria&Coe) should capitalise on and we can help being part of your #Asian Drinks Solution! With Suntory Global Spirits seeing huge opportunities and investments into white spirits, we are excited for this trend to finally reach its potential. Exciting times and with new developments in the pipeline... Tarsier Southeast Asian Spirit is ready to take on the opportunities the global market presents. Thank you Tom Bronock for including us as part of your research. We hope that big UK retailers Tesco Sainsbury's Waitrose & Partners Morrisons Asda embrace this hunger by consumers to look beyond #Japanese #southeastasia #thai #vietnamese #filipino #malay #indonesian #cambodian #singaporean #conservation #asia #drinks #spirits

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Fantastic news! IW Capital are thrilled to announce an investment of £3 million in a follow-on round for portfolio company Daily Dose Juice, the UK’s fastest growing cold-pressed juice and functional drinks business with sustainability at its core. Since first partnering with IW Capital in 2023, Daily Dose has delivered a strong year of growth and has won a number of contracts that have seen it stocked on the shelves of major retailers. Daily Dose will use the follow-on investment to make key hires in sales and marketing, and to enable the scale up of its juice production, having recently acquired a new production facility in Corby. Congratulations to Daily Dose CEO and Founder, George Hughes-Davies, and IW Capital Investment Director, Isobel Egemole, on this great outcome. Additional thanks to our advisers EMW Law LLP - B Corp Certified. To read more: https://lnkd.in/ehY2_x2P   #IWCapital #Portfolio #News #Investment #GrowthCapital #Growth #PrivateEquity #VentureCapital 

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