Irish-founded The Naked Collective closes €6.2m funding round

Irish-founded healthy drinks company, The Naked Collective, has closed a €6.2 million funding round as it eyes further expansion overseas.

The company, which includes the brands Mude and So.Beer, had originally aimed to raise €5 million, capitalising on the increased appetite for health and wellness products. The Naked Collective will use the funding to support their global sales and marketing expansion plans, with a particular focus on the United States.

The company also raised €6 million last year.

"The last two rounds have been good to us," said co-founder Niall Phelan. "I think we could have raised more than that. Covid has obviously impacted our ability to grow as fast as we'd like in 2021. Now things are opening up, thankfully. It's been great, I think it's an endorsement of the product proposition and the market we are going after."

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The start-up is now targeting a minimum €20 million raise to support growth in the US, going to market early in the new year to start gathering funding.

Mr Phelan and Catherina Butler founded The Naked Collective with their own cash and the €6 million raised from three investors – an Irish backer with links to retailing, and Canadian and US individuals. Mr Phelan has since relocated to the US as the company accelerates its growth there.

“Pre-Christmas we are planning in being in five states in total,” he said, with more on the horizon in the future.

The Naked Collective produces a range of healthy drinks under the Mude brand name that are low in sugar, isotonic and contain natural vitamins and minerals. It also has launched a range of non-alcoholic lagers under the So.Beer brand.

More than 4,000 stockists carry the drinks, including Tesco, Spar, Mace, Londis and Circle K in Ireland; Sobeys retail group in Canada; Dimar and Iperconad in Italy and WH Smith stores in the UK, with the company on target to reach 5,000 by next spring.

After an initial delay caused by the pandemic, the Irish company earlier this year announced a number of big distribution deals for its products across North America and Britain, and had its Mude drink included in the gift bag given to Oscar nominees at the main pre-event for this year's Academy Awards.

The Co Kildare company has also been chosen for Amazon’s Launchpad programme, which sees The Naked Collective products made available for sale on the online retailer’s site.

Mude is also the lead sponsor of singer Rita Ora’s show at the Eiffel Tower.