DTC’s Daily Digest brings you the latest news on the world’s fastest growing direct-to-consumer brands. In today’s edition: Graze launches new £1m campaign; Revolut to be valued at USD$5bn; and Skinny Tonic funding on Seedrs. 

Graze launches new £1m campaign

Graze, the UK’s number one healthy snacking brand, has launched a £1m campaign to promote its ongoing sugar reduction initiative aimed at helping consumers enjoy healthy living every day.

The multi-channel campaign focuses on the relaunch of one of the brand’s best-selling products, Cocoa Vanilla Protein Oat Bites, now with 45% less sugar than the average cereal bar.

To achieve this reduction, graze experimented with almost 100 different recipes and tested prototypes with more than 350 grazers during two years of product development.

With 55% of shoppers looking to reduce the amount of sugar they consume, graze aims to help customers make healthier choices by offering a range of alternative snacks using natural ingredients that are full of flavour and perfectly portioned for snacking.

As graze’s biggest January promotion to date, the campaign will span multiple formats including road-side posters, in-store shopper marketing activation and social media.

In addition, graze is distributing 450,000 samples across the UK to raise awareness of the reduced sugar recipe and inspire both existing and new customers to reimagine the way they snack through lower sugar options.

Revolut to be valued at USD$5bn

UK-based fintech Revolut is reportedly set to be valued at USD$5bn (£3.85bn) in an upcoming funding round.

Investor Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV) is leading a funding round that is expected to close in January, according to documents seen by Financial News.

Silicon-Valley based TCV raised a USD$3bn (£2.3bn) fund at the beginning of 2019 to back rapidly-growing tech companies. TCV was an early backer of Spotify, Airbnb and Netflix.

In the UK TCV’s portfolio includes the money transfer platform World Remit. According to Sky News reports last year, Revolut had been looking for new funding at a valuation of between USD$7bn and USD$8bn.

Revolut went on a hiring spree last year as it embarked on a global expansion drive and sought to move away from its startup roots. Last September Revolut announced a tie-up with Mastercard ahead of its US debit card launch. It also agreed a deal with Visa to support at least 75% of Revolut cards issued in other countries.

Skinny Tonic funding on Seedrs

Natural slimline tonic water brand Skinny Tonic is funding on Seedrs. The brand, which initially sought to raise £500,000, has currently raised over £1.34m. 

Skinny Tonic, which sells in Asda, also has listings with Amazon, 31 Dover, Muscle Food and Costco, with an agreement to launch with another national retailer in Q1 2020. 

The business say they aim to be producing cans in the millions in the next 12 months with their current order book, and have a new bespoke fully automated production facility that is capable of producing 6,000 cans per hour. Although they sell through retail channels, they also have a DTC business, selling through their own website. 

The balance of funds will be spent on increasing the production capacity and product development ensuring that they remain ahead of the competition in taste tests, design and innovation. In addition, they will look to hire a sales and marketing team. 

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