Investment Highlights
- Market leader in the kombucha category with a focus on quality.
- Unique proprietary formulation and brewing process, crafted over four years.
- Well established brand within the New Zealand market, with exciting offshore potential.
- Own the complete brewing and production process, ensuring quality and retaining maximum profit.
- Significant growth opportunities in the fast growing, better-for-you alcoholic RTD category.
- $3.7m forecast revenue in FY23, achieving positive EBITDA in FY22.
- Voted New Zealand's best tasting kombucha in 2019 and gold award winner for packaging design at The Best Design Awards, 2018.
Summary
Not all kombucha is created equal. Batchwell proudly makes New Zealand’s best tasting, small batch, organic kombucha, right here in Auckland. 100% New Zealand owned, Batchwell is the market leader of gut health beverages.
Batchwell Limited has been creating high quality, batch-brewed kombucha with organic ingredients and fresh pressed juice since 2016. In November 2020, Batchwell launched its new alcohol brand, Blume, which combines Batchwell's kombucha with premium New Zealand spirits.
The business is led by an experienced management team and board and has been self-funded by the 4 founders, with a total of $725k having been invested to date. Batchwell has been run off a low cost base since the beginning by sourcing high quality second-hand production equipment, relying mostly on organic customer growth and basing operations out of its very own production facility in Penrose, Auckland.
Batchwell has enjoyed revenue growth to $620k since launching and achieved 63% CAGR over the past 3 years, with consumers loving Batchwell’s visually appealing and great tasting kombucha. Hospitality channel sales grew by 10% from FY20 - FY21 despite COVID-19. Blume had a soft launch into the Auckland market in November 2020 and is now ready for expansion through on premise hospitality and retail channels to capitalise on the growth within the better-for-you alcoholic drinks category.
The better-for-you beverage market is one of the most disruptive trends in the global beverage industry. This is primarily driven from consumer values being influenced by the health concerns associated with a high sugar diet. Kombucha, a subset of the better-for-you beverage market has quickly evolved over recent years from servicing a niche population to becoming a mainstream preference among consumers. The growth and size of the global market illustrates this growing trend. The global ready-to-drink (RTD) alcohol market was worth over USD $22.5 billion in 2019 and the global kombucha market is enjoying similar growth now currently worth USD $1.84 billion.
Batchwell's intention is to be a dominant producer of kombucha and other gut health products in New Zealand and abroad. Its core product, Batchwell kombucha, is already a prominent brand across the segment being rated the best tasting kombucha in New Zealand in 2019 by Metro. Blume, while still young, has shown impressive signs of growth and quick distribution, providing compelling growth opportunities both domestically and abroad. The strong brand and unique products place Batchwell in an excellent position to capture significant market share.
Batchwell is now raising up to $1m to invest in production capability, portfolio expansion and increased investment in sales and marketing activities for all products.
Batchwell’s growth strategy involves aggressively expanding the reach of its existing portfolio across the New Zealand hospitality and traditional liquor channels. Growth will come from new products, with several key innovations to be launched under the Batchwell brand utilising its existing distribution channels. Enabling this new product opportunity will be an investment in production capability and efficiency, with new equipment significantly increasing output and margins. FY22 is expected to show revenue growth of 161% as Blume trades for a full year and distribution gains and successful new product launches accelerate non-alcoholic growth. Batchwell remains committed to producing the best, for your gut.
This is your opportunity to join us at an exciting point in our growth journey.
The Team
Batchwell has a strong management team and board with a high level of experience across a variety of industries which has supported the businesses growth to date and will help to execute future opportunities.
The Board
- Richard Old – Director Shareholder
- Tom Darby – Director Shareholder
- Zak Darby – Director Shareholder
- Independent Director – Two non-executive directors to be appointed after the completion of the capital raise.
Core Team Members
Richard Old Head of Operations and Co-Founder
Prior to starting Batchwell, Rich co-founded, grew and successfully sold the Auckland eatery Bird on a Wire. Rich discovered and subsequently fell in love with Kombucha while in California working for music tech startup, Kombie. His passion for kombucha is evident in the high quality drinks that Batchwell produces. Rich leads the production and innovation side of the business which will see Batchwell launch into new categories with a continued focus on gut health.
Michael Tutty General Manager
Michael comes from a corporate sales background in beverages in the New Zealand market, with 8 years at Coca-Cola Amatil, then 5 years as head of sales at The Better Drinks Co. Michael started with Batchwell in 2018 growing retail distribution, then in 2019 forming Nudes, a sales collective of kiwi beverage brands (of which Batchwell is one of four founding brands). This year Michael will lead the sales and account management function at Batchwell, with a strong focus on expanding Blume’s distribution.Warning statement
It's crucial for you to understand the characteristics and risks of this investment opportunity. New Zealand law normally requires people who offer financial products to provide in-depth information to investors before they invest. The usual rules do not apply to offers by companies through Snowball Effect. As a result, you may not be given all the information you need to make an informed decision. Investing is risky. Some of the key risks include loss of capital, illiquidity, lack of returns, dilution, loss of key people and customers, and lack of control. You should only invest money that you can afford to lose.
