Australian sugar free beverage brand Nexba has secured $6 million in a Series A Round through crowdfunding platform VentureCrowd.
Almost $1.5 million of the total figure was raised through the crowd-funding element breaking records for Australia’s largest non-tech crowdfunding raise to date.
The remaining $4.5 million in funds came from a variety of private investors including former David Jones CEO and managing director Paul Zahra, former CBA Executive and now CEO of Porter Davis Adrian Hondros, Farage founder Joe Farage and Budburst capital director John Bacon.
The naturally sugar free beverage brand, which recently launched into the UK, saw FY18 gross revenues up 148 per cent following the launch of new ranges such as kombucha and probiotic water. The company is on track to achieve another year of doubling gross revenues in FY19.
“Our launch into the UK late last year was a huge step forward on our mission to become the fastest growing Naturally Sugar Free brand,”Nexba Co-founder Troy Douglas said.
“Nexba has transitioned from start up to scale up, the UK is about proving global scalability of what is the future of food and beverage being great tasting no sugar and nothing artificial alternatives. We forecast continued acceleration in the years to come as we hit other large markets such as the US.”
In February this year the Douglas and co-founder Drew Bilbe became the first Australian founders to be backed by Gaingels, a global investment fund for LGBT founders.
The financing will support Nexba’s global expansion plans, with a key focus in the UK. Last year the beverage brand sealed a partnership with UK retailer Sainsbury’s which has seen Nexba products rolled out to large-format stores nationwide.
