SWEDEN – Swedish ice cream brand Nick’s has raised US$30 million in funding to expand its production capacity, as well support its global expansion drive that majorly focuses om setting foot in the US and Germany.
“Our key focus is to continue our international expansion with the US being our highest priority. We are also continuing our geographical expansion in Europe,” Stefan Lagerqvist, Nick’s CEO, said during an interview with FoodIngredientsFirst.
Stefan Lagerqvist, further noted that Nicks also planned to use part of the funds to set up a new factory in Europe as it has almost outgrown its current facility.
The funding round was led by Stockholm-based investment group Gullspång. Khosla Ventures, DNS capital, Djursholm Investment Group, Skandrenting AB, PeakBridge are also among the investors.
Nick’s offers healthier ice cream alternatives with no added sugar, gluten, palm oil and at a lower calorie count.
The most recent innovation is the ice cream that contains 70 percent less calories than other leading brands.
Furthermore, Nick’s launched a vegan ice cream in collaboration with Perfect Day, who invented the world’s first animal-free whey protein that’s identical to protein in cow’s milk but without any cows involved in the process.
In the US, Nick’s has the exclusive right to use EPG, a patented fat replacer which gives the ice cream great taste and texture despite being low-calorie.
According to a recently conducted survey published by reportlinker, the Global Healthy Snacks Market size is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.07% during the period between 2021-2025 to reach US$32.3 billion by 2025.
This growth according to the report is due to increased demand for healthier food choices to curb the rise of lifestyle diseases, government pressure on snack companies to clean their ingredients, and increased investments in the healthy snacks sector.
Furthermore, growing sales of healthy snacks through online retail channels and several market players that focus considerably on a multitude of healthy products including sugar-free, gluten-free and whole-grain goods are creating growth possibilities for the global healthy snacks market.
According to Nick’s CEO, as consumers spend more time in their homes a lot of the consumption follows.
This spike in consumption lead to a growing demand in the ice cream at retailers and also through online channels as behaviours shift toward online shopping.
With success having been achieved in Sweden where Legergvist notes that Nick’s is currently the market leader in the better-for-you ice cream segment, the funding will become critical as the company looks to increase production capacity and step into new markets.
“Our ambition is to replicate the success outside of Sweden and that’s why we raise capital – to fuel our global growth,” Lagerqvist added.
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