N!CKS, a Swedish food tech company, is taking on the whole world, one healthy pint at a.
On Thursday, the company announced $100 million Series C funding to create additional healthy snacks.
Kinnevik, Ambrosia, and Temasek led the round. Gullspang was also present. Carlos Altschul, N!CKS CEO North America told TechCrunch that the latest funding brings the company $160million in total investments.
N!CKS was founded in Europe in 2017 by R&D Niclas Luthmans founder. His mother, who is also the head of R&D Niclas, was diagnosed with diabetes. Altschul says that Luthman was then diagnosed as pre-diabetic.
He also said that there wasn't a lot of food science to bring better-for you solutions to this space. He discovered that it was much easier to modify the food than the way we eat.
The company produces ice cream, snack bars, and confectionery products in Europe. Altschul said that N!CKS is an ice cream brand in Europe, and that it is a platform to change culture.
Over the past two year, N!CKS has been very busy. N!CKS, which was able to enter the United States in 2019 with ice cream, is now the leader in this category of velocity per store. Perfect Days' animal-free dairy proteins were combined with plant-based substitute fats to create a vegan dairy product.
Altschul stated that the company's direct-to consumer business was launched in 2020, and has been at the top of DTC ice cream delivery since July. The company launched a line Keto protein bars this year. It started on Amazon and direct-to-consumer channels. Plans are to expand into retail stores by year's end.
N!CKS grew from 4,500 U.S.-based stores to 6,700 in 2020-2021 and also expanded in the U.K. with a partnership agreement with WHSmith.
The company will use the new funding to accelerate its goal of increasing its U.S. and European stores, as well as hiring additional talent and investing in R&D for new products.
Magnus Jakobson is Kinnevik's investment director. He said that he has been in the food industry for several years and believes the industry is attractive because of the multiple tailwinds to sustainability and health occurring at the moment. This is driving demand as well as the ability to build brands.
It is an exciting moment in time. He believes that N!CKS's traction to date has been impressive, especially since it did it initially on its own, and that that strategy has attracted other food technology partners.
Jakobson stated that the way people eat and live is changing, which is what allows for new brands to emerge. Oatly and Beyond are the pioneers of this industry. However, we have seen more breakthroughs in technology and new ways to reach consumers through standalone brands. N!CKS is an exciting industry and is already showing promise in its early days.
