An Altrincham-headquartered vegan chocolate firm has received investment from financial backers behind plant-based giant Beyond Meat.
LoveRaw, which makes peanut butter-filled chocolate cups, was founded by managing director Rimi Thapar in 2013.
The multi-million pound investment from Blue Horizon Ventures - known for investing plant-based food brands - will see it support LoveRaw in “disrupting the vegan confectionery industry”, the venture capitalist said.
Michael Kleindl, founder and managing partner of Blue Horizon Ventures, said they are “confident” LoveRaw has the opportunity to become “market leaders”.
“Together we will work to provide consumers around the world with plant-based and 'clean label' products from the indulgence category and aim to convert the current product options towards more sustainable and eco-friendly alternatives,” he said.
The deal comes after Ms Thapar - and business partner and husband Manav Thapar - approached Blue Horizon Ventures for investment in early 2019.
Ms Thapar said having support from Blue Horizon was “game changing”.
She said: “Regardless of the investment, our values align with theirs. We are all on a mission to make plant-based eating the norm and to also turn LoveRaw into an international brand.”
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The news also comes alongside the appointment of Juliet Barratt, co-founder and previous chief marketing officer of healthy snacking brand Grenade - as non-executive director.
Ms Thapar said: “After being introduced to Juliet through a mutual contact, we knew that she possessed invaluable knowledge that she could share.
“We couldn’t be happier to be working with another entrepreneur within the industry.”
The deal comes after the firm from Dragons’ Den’s Deborah Meaden in 2018 to maintain a higher equity stake in the business.
Ms Thapar said: “We are so glad that we waited for the right investor and didn’t buckle when the Dragon’s Den offer came in when we so needed it!”