Natural pet food company Bella & Duke has completed a successful investment round of £7 million from a consortium of investors.
Investment group BGF has provided £5m of the fresh funding, with the balance coming from existing shareholders, including follow-on investment from Mobeus.
Set up in 2016 by Mark Scott and Tony Ottley, Bella & Duke has provided more 17.5 million meals to pets throughout the UK. Revenues in the latest financial year topped £11m.
This fresh cash injection will accelerate marketing activity, increase factory capacity, and create further job opportunities at Bella & Duke’s headquarters located in Fife. The company currently employs almost 100 people, with further significant increases planned over the next few years as the business scales up.
Alongside the funding round, Peter Farquhar will join Bella & Duke as chairman. Mr Farquhar was formerly chairman of natural petfood brand Forthglade.
Mr Scott said: “Our mission is to provide all British dogs and cats with the best possible nutrition: raw food, with recipes tailored to take account of breed, life stage and any underlying health or welfare concerns.
"The business has grown significantly in recent years due to the increasing consumer demand for natural, nutritionally beneficial pet food as well as the success of our subscription-based business model, that delivers frozen food from our factory in Fife directly to customers’ homes throughout Great Britain."
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A home security start up has won £1.5 million backing from Gareth Williams who helped grow Skyscanner into one of Scotland’s most successful technology firms.
Mr Williams and other investors provided £3.7m growth funding in total for Boundary Technology weeks after the company launched its first product.
Tennent’s boss: I understand frustration of Glasgow publicans
The boss of Tennent’s Lager owner C&C Group has said he understands the frustration felt by Glasgow publicans who are still unable to sell alcohol inside their premises because of ongoing coronavirus restrictions.
David Forde, who took over from Stephen Glancey as C&C chief executive in November, said he has sympathy for customers in the industry. His comments came as C&C reported an operating loss of nearly €60 million in its latest financial year.
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