海角视频

A North East company that saw success on Dragons鈥� Den is poised to storm into the American market after smashing its crowdfunding target before going live to the public.

The founders of Gateshead based superfood powders firm SuperU last month appeared on the hit BBC One entrepreneurial show, securing offers matching the investment they asked for from all five millionaire Dragons.

Sean Ali and Charlotte Bailey eventually negotiated a joint deal with Tej Lalvani and Peter Jones for a 拢50,000 investment in return for 6% equity, but have since revealed that they mutually walked away from the deal.

Instead, the former Nottingham Trent University graduates, who live in South Shields, South Tyneside, are launching a Seedrs crowdfunding campaign to raise 拢550,000 for 10% equity.

On the day that the Seedrs campaign moves from private investment mode to public, the couple revealed that the target has already been smashed, and that a rush on sales following their TV appearance means they have almost beaten last year鈥檚 turnover figure in a single month.

Their blends 鈥� which are designed to help support immunity, digestion, skin health, energy and focus, and can be added can be added into smoothies, shakes, salads, yoghurts and drinks 鈥� have been flying out of their Gateshead warehouse.

The Clean Greens and Berry Beauty sold out soon after the show aired, but thousands of customers placed pre-orders which will go out soon.

Mr Ali said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 calmed down now, but it was nuts at the start. It was more stressful because we ran out of stock. We鈥檝e also had thousands of emails from customers - we have 3,500 pre-orders to send out next week when the new stock comes in. That compares to our best ever month which was January, when we had 1,200 orders.

鈥淲e did just under 拢500,000 in sales last month - 拢485,000 - which is insane because we nearly beat our third year total in one month.

鈥淭hat was way over our predictions - we thought if we could do around 拢200,000 after being on the show that would be amazing in itself. We weren鈥檛 prepared for that level, and we had spoken to other firms too to see how many orders they鈥檇 had after appearing, to give us an idea."

Ms Bailey said: 鈥淥n the night Dragon鈥檚 Den went out we did over 3,500 orders which was around 拢200,000. A lot of people have been really understanding of our situation because we鈥檝e been on national telly and you don鈥檛 know what to expect. We prepared as much as we could but it far surpassed our expectations.鈥�

Having successfully grown awareness and sales in the 海角视频, the pair are now looking at breaking into the US market, where Mr Ali spent time while studying and got the inspiration to create Super U.

While taking a business management and economics degree, he spent some time in America, where he researched natural foods which were popular in the States.

On arriving home, he began incorporating superfood blends Ms Bailey鈥檚 diet. She had been diagnosed with coeliac disease 鈥� and the positive impacts the blends had on her inspired them to create Super U.

Ms Bailey said: 鈥淭he US has 40% of the market for superfood powders, the biggest market in the world, and consumers over there are even more health conscious than the Brits, and for us to compete on a global scale we need to be established in the US."

Mr Ali said: 鈥淭he warehouse we have in Gateshead will take care of 海角视频 and Europe fulfilment and product manufacturing. In the US, because of FDA regulations, we are partnering with a manufacturer in California who will blend our products to distribute.

鈥淲e may do something similar to what we鈥檝e done here - outsourced manufacturing until we were in a position to bring it in-house. But the American market might take off and we might need to outsource to a bigger player who can manage the volumes."

The pair already have the investment needed to put the plans into action.

They recently launched the Seedrs campaign in private mode, which allows previous investors to take part in the new fundraise, as well as investors the firm has been in talks with.

Ahead of opening up to the wider public today, it has already brought in 拢550,028 from 297 investors.

In a few weeks, they also intend to launch a drive to fill a number of new roles.

Mr Ali said: 鈥淲e can鈥檛 close the campaign until after it hits its target. So on launch day if it鈥檚 at the target we will request to close it - and then have to wait a week before it actually closes, so by the end of that week we could be on a much higher figure. It鈥檚 exciting.鈥�