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There’s nothing more exciting than seeing our alumni companies come back to make a second splash with another successful crowdfunding campaign, and Skinny Tonic is the perfect example.
In January of this year, Skinny Tonic launched their first Seedrs raise, which successfully closed in a few weeks, raising over £1.8 million from 531 investors. Just recently, they launched their second round on the platform and have already raised over £1.3 million from nearly 700 investors.
If you’re wondering what the hype is all about, Skinny Tonic came to market in March 2019 with the UK’s very first zero sugar, zero calorie tonic water, made with entirely natural ingredients. Their core range of four flavours gained instant traction among health-conscious consumers across the country, with two flavours winning nomination for the Product Innovation Awards with a major retailer. Since then, the brand has launched a new website, listed 8 flavours on Amazon, and quickly become the e-commerce giant’s number one selling tonic water.
How did it all start? At age 23, founder of Skinny Tonic, Ian Minton, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. Not only did this involve significant lifestyle and diet changes to manage his blood sugar, it also highlighted the many products – including mainstream ‘low sugar’ tonic waters – that caused his blood sugar to spike. With this experience, he spotted a gap in the market for a zero calorie, zero sugar, mixer, that was safe not only for those suffering with similar medical afflictions, but simultaneously catered to the hundreds of thousands of people across the country in search of naturally low sugar alternatives to their favourite beverages.
From that point onwards, the demand was proven, and Skinny Tonic quickly became a market leader in the naturally zero soft drinks space. Each of the flavours in their range is delicious, stylishly premium, and developed based on consumers trends, extensive market research and expert insight. The business has experienced significant growth in the last few years, with four flavours into 27 Booths stores this past June, and an own label contract with a major retailer secured shortly afterward. And this is just the beginning! Skinny Tonic recently invested in a brand new, state-of-the-art facility to enable them to scale efficiently and drive even more product innovation. Their new, larger premises will include three new lines capable of fully automating canning and bottling with an array of market leading filling and packaging machines, to accommodate growth.
The soft drinks market is a competitive space, but Skinny Tonic’s first-mover advantage has given them a trailblazing head start in the market for healthier beverage alternatives. Amidst a sea of ‘diet drinks’, Skinny Tonic’s primary USP is that their products don’t contain sugar or artificial sweeteners. Instead, they use natural plant extract Stevia to sweeten, which has proven fantastically popular among customers. Each of their brand subsidiaries – Skinny Tonic and Skinny Ginger are trademark protected.
With several international deals on the horizon with distribution partners, Skinny Tonic have an exciting road ahead. Their first products have been shipped to Dubai, Ireland, Spain and soon to the US.
To find out more about Skinny Tonic, and join hundreds of investors helping the brand pioneer a new way of drinking at global scale, visit the pitch now.
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