Tony’s Chocolonely has secured an extra €20 million in funding from its current shareholders, enabling the brand to fuel its rapid expansion across various markets.
The funds will also contribute to the growth of Tony’s Open Chain, the company’s business-to-business platform focused on ethical bean sourcing. Tony’s Chocolonely highlighted that increasing the sales of its chocolate bars and cocoa beans means purchasing more beans at fair prices, ensuring a “more positive impact” on the lives of cocoa farmers.
As part of the funding round, some existing shareholders will sell a small portion of their stake. The revised shareholding percentages include Genuine Chocolate – the holding company of former Tony’s CEO Henk Jan Beltman – which will see its stake decrease from 26.5% to 17.9%. Additionally, other investors now hold a 21.3% shareholding, which is down from 26.3%.
Meanwhile, Belgian investment group Verlinvest – Tony’s largest shareholder – will see its stake in the company increase from 43.1% to 55.9%, and Jam Jar, an investment company run by the former Innocent Drinks founders, will up its stake from 4.1% to 4.9%.
Douglas Lamont, Tony’s CEO, commented: “This investment will help us accelerate our progress towards our mission of ending exploitation in the cocoa industry. The funding will be used to support the rapid global growth we are delivering in both Tony’s Chocolonely, our chocolate business, and Tony’s Open Chain, our global business-to-business ethical bean trading company.”
He continued: “I am delighted that all the funding was raised from within our existing shareholder base, who we know are all committed to supporting our long-term mission. With this new investment, with our governance structure and with our recently introduced Mission Lock, we will all remain fully focused and committed to delivering on our mission to end exploitation in the cocoa industry.”
The transaction is subject to regulatory approval in the Netherlands.
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