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Bulgarian food company Smart Organic rescued the UK-based vegan chocolate brand LoveRaw from administration earlier this month.
The brand and business assets have now been sold to Smart Organic Group subsidiary Bettr Food Limited. As reported by The Business Desk, K3 Capital Group appointed KR8 Advisory’s Jimmy Saunders and Mike Lennon as Joint Administrators of LoveRaw on April 16.
“Whilst the vegan food space continues to be competitive, we expect the LoveRaw brand and products to be a great success with the investment and in-house manufacturing capabilities which the Smart Organic Group brings,” said Saunders.
Smart Organic was founded in 2009 and operates in more than 60 countries with a portfolio of over 1300 products, including vegan bestsellers such as Kookie Kat and chocolate-coated Roo’ Bars. The vegan chocolate market is expected to continue growing rapidly over the next few years, potentially reaching USD $4 billion by 2032.
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Previous investment in LoveRaw
LoveRaw was founded in 2013 by Rimi Thapar and her husband, Manav. LoveRaw’s award-winning range included favorites such as the Cre&m Wafer Bar. Rimi appeared on the TV show Dragons’ Den in 2018, but rejected a £50,000 offer in favor of private investment. In 2020, the brand received a multi-million-pound investment from Blue Horizon Ventures.
At its peak, LoveRaw was stocked by major supermarkets such as Sainsbury’s, Tesco, and Waitrose, and enjoyed popularity with shoppers. The brand showed particularly significant growth between 2019 and 2021, and was featured by the Financial Times in March last year.
However, LoveRaw has experienced several years of investment and supply challenges that have resulted in declining revenue. According to some customers, the brand paused some subscriptions in 2023 and failed to fulfill orders on time, while products became hard to find in stores.
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