European nutrition product provider Huel has sold more than 270 million meals worldwide since Julian Hearn founded the company in 2015.
It’s been a while since we’ve covered Huel, which launched in the UK in 2017 with a range of low-sugar, plant-based, low-carbon footprint protein powders, but it’s since become a ready-to-drink snack bar and hot lunch option.
We reported on them in 2019 when they launched their nutrition bars in the U.S. At the time, the company was valued at $260 million in 2018, with a $20 million investment from Highland Europe. was backed by a venture round in Huel to go public in 2021
Today, much of the company’s sales are outside the UK, and the company’s loyal following, the US “Hueligans”, represent Huel’s second largest market, followed by Germany and Japan, says CEO James McMaster. told TechCrunch.
The company has now grown to 250 employees, including a small office in New York. Year-over-year revenue growth was 40% for him, reaching a maximum of $170 million. McMaster attributes its strong new customer growth, the launch of ready-to-eat hot lunch products (among others), and the company’s transition from direct-to-consumer to direct-to-consumer sales. We also have retail stores.
Huel’s line of plant-based products. Image credit: Hule
“We are at a stage where this second round of funding allows us to continue to focus on that growth,” he said. “We continue to innovate with new products and are really proud of where we are going. We are now a business that wants to become a truly global brand.”
Highland Europe is back to lead a new injection of $24 million that currently values Huel at $560 million. Joining the venture fund are actor and UN Goodwill Ambassador Idris Elba and his wife Sabrina Doua Elba, UN Goodwill Ambassador and TV presenter Jonathan Ross, and CEO of sustainable activewear brand TALA. A star-studded new group of investors, including a certain Grace Beverly. .
“I have been a Heurigan for several years now and started my journey preparing for my role in Thor, so joining Huell was an easy decision,” Idris Elba said in a statement. “I believe in their mission to provide a sustainable supply of nutritionally complete food. I look forward to raising awareness about
Meanwhile, the new funding will also be deployed for continued international expansion, with a focus on the United States. This investment will also support new product innovation, continued expansion online and in retail.
As part of Elbas’ investment, one of the new projects is a climate change initiative that will help people eat at 1.5 degrees Celsius, the limit of global warming that the Paris Climate Agreement is trying to reach, and Huel will work with them. It involves working together.
Huel’s diet is matched by a diet that supports that reduction, and the company is “looking forward to working with Idris and Sabrina as they seek to be a force for good in the world,” McMaster added. I was.
