The Naked Collective sets out to raise €20m as momentum builds

Healthy drink start-up is expanding rapidly in Europe and the US

Catherina Butler and Niall Phelan of The Naked Collective, with Hagrid the dog. Picture by Tony Gavin

Sean Pollock Email

September 26 2021 02:30 AM

The Naked Collective, a healthy drinks start-up based in Co Kildare, is planning to raise up to €20m in the first quarter of next year.

The company, which is behind functional drink brand Mude and non-alcoholic So.Beer, recently closed a €6.2m fundraising round. The round exceeded The Naked Collective’s original target of €5m.

Speaking with the Sunday Independent, Catherina Butler, who co-founded The Naked Collective alongside Niall Phelan, said the planned funding round would be in the region of €15m to €20m. She added it would help drive distribution across North America.

“We are absolutely excited for it,” she said of the round next year. “I guess the momentum is building really quickly in the US. That is the result of months of really hard work setting down the structures in the US.

“My business partner Niall Phelan moved out there a couple of months ago to head up that operation. He is based out of the West Coast of the US. It gives us direct access into the retailers, the investment companies and the investors out there.”

Butler said The Naked Collective was targeting all the big retailers in the US. She added the raise would help the company “turbo-charge” US revenue in the second quarter of next year.

CA Fortune, an agency in the US market, was recently appointed by The Naked Collective as a partner. The business said it is “tracking nicely” towards making its range available in over 5,000 stores by next spring.

The Naked Collective’s brands are currently in 1,000 stockists in Ireland, including Spar, Lidl, Circle K and Tesco. Butler said it had partnered with Spar Ireland, who put the company forward for its Spar International Challenger Brand programme.

The company sells its drinks in the UK through WH Smith and is in talks with other retailers. It is also operating in Italy and its So.Beer brand sponsored the Milan Marathon.