Amsterdam breakfast brand Holie's has grown its ABN Amro credit line to €7m as European expansion starts to cost serious money, while its founders say they still hold 100% of the control after a €1.6m crowdfunding round in 2023.
Credit: this report is based on a story first published by MT/Sprout. Read the original at mtsprout.nl.
According to MT/Sprout, Holie's, the Amsterdam brand behind sugar-free granola and bars, is leaning on bank debt rather than a large outside shareholder as it moves into new European markets. The company was started by Merick Schoute, a former category manager at Albert Heijn, who filled the first packs in 2018. Valentijn van Santvoort joined as co-founder shortly after the start.
The brand is now number two on the breakfast shelf in the Benelux, MT/Sprout reports, with Quaker still the clear market leader in the Netherlands.
How the cap table stayed tight
For its first years, Holie's barely needed banks or investors. Until 2023 the logistics partner between Holie's and the supermarkets also financed its stock, which cost the company a sizeable share of its margin.
To take distribution into its own hands, the company did bring in outside money at the end of 2023. A crowdfunding round on the Broccoli platform drew 160 co-owners, who together put in around €1.6m. The founders stress that they still hold 100% of the control. Alongside that round, Holie's arranged a €2m credit line with a bank.
Schoute told MT/Sprout he started the company for the freedom, adding that "with an investor you de facto get a kind of boss" (translated from Dutch). The founders said they preferred the financing costs of a loan to a large shareholder.
Debt for the European push
European growth now costs serious money, according to the report. The credit line with ABN Amro has been expanded to €7m, and the founders expect to report a loss for the first time this financial year. Profit from the Benelux is being channelled into the new markets.
Those markets are meant to carry revenue to at least €45m in 2027, MT/Sprout writes. Holie's now sells in twelve countries, with France as the latest addition. Since May the brand has been in half of the stores of Carrefour, and revenue in France is already heading towards €1m. Holie's is also on shelves in Belgium, the UK, Austria and Switzerland.
From €700k to twelve markets
The first supermarket to list Holie's was Albert Heijn, early in 2019, and revenue in the first year was almost €700,000. Not every step worked: a hummus line that made up about a third of revenue was dropped to keep the brand focused on breakfast, and an early entry into Germany through Edeka in Bavaria was reversed within nine months.
The company now has 40 employees, 15 of them in its in-house creative team, and 35 products.
What comes next
The founders told MT/Sprout their goal is a global brand, with the US as a target and the UK as a stepping stone. A large acquisition is not their aim, they said.
Original source: MT/Sprout, "Challenger Holie's is in eigen land geen kleintje meer, tijd voor Europa"
