Mom Raw generates $6.1 million.
Producing plant-based marinades, dressings, dips, and sauces, Mother Raw has completed a $6.1 million Series A investment round led by Forage Capital Partners, a new investor. Export Development Canada and longtime partner Whitecap Venture Partners also participated in the round.
Mother Raw, a Canadian firm founded on the original RawFoodz, debuted last year after a major rebranding and reformulation initiative spearheaded by CEO Kristi Knowles.
Ms. Knowles, who has worked for large food firms like Unilever PLC, Campbell Soup Co., and Molson Coors for 25 years, initially joined the brand in 2017 as a consultant.
“From a trends perspective, I came to the conclusion that the idea of plant-based, clean, minimally processed food is spot on. However, we should invest in professional branding and product development to make this happen,” Ms. Knowles stated. “We developed the idea of raw food and presented it as Mother Raw, which allowed for much more room for innovation.”
Early in the rebranding effort, Ms. Knowles assumed the role of CEO following the unexpected death of RawFooz creator Michelle Kopman in 2018. She persisted in spearheading the brand’s reformulation attempt, expanding its emphasis beyond the vegan
Making a sensory panel to get input on how the products were delivered was one step in that process.
The variations were a touch too similar to one another, but they still like the ingredients, according to Ms. Knowles. In addition to ensuring that the products delivered on the experience of shaking and pouring exceptionally well, flavour work was involved.
The redesign worked well. Since its January 2019 launch, Mother Raw has grown into over 3,700 locations. During the epidemic, it was able to gain more than 1,600 additional merchants, including Meijer, Pavilions, Sprouts, Target, Walmart Canada, and Whole Foods. In 2020, sales surged by about 250%.
Retailers “began to pay attention once we rebranded and reformulated,” according to Ms. Knowles. Since success encourages success,
Mother Raw will use the money from the Series A round to further its R&D efforts for new product innovation in addition to expanding its distribution network and stepping up sales and marketing campaigns.
According to Ms. Knowles, the company is “just beginning to scratch the surface” of the $1.1 billion refrigerated dip market. Right now, it has two vegan queso dips plus plant-based ranch and French onion dips.
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“We are free from the top eight common allergens, which is a big point of difference,” she added. “A lot of plant-based snacks are nut-based.”
The business is also testing a number of concepts in various new sectors.”The world is wide open to us because Mother Raw was designed to be very stretchy,” Ms. Knowles remarked. “We began our rebranding campaign.