England football captain Harry Kane is one of the investors behind this gut health brand, which raised £1.4m in March. Dr Megan Rossi, a gut health specialist and research fellow at King’s College London, joined forces with chief executive Jon Walsh to launch the business in 2019 with a range of ‘good for the gut’ granolas. They have expanded the brand to mueslis, porridges and live yoghurts, and retail sales hit £2.8m last year. The products are stocked in more than 1,400 stores nationwide, such as Sainsbury’s and Waitrose, and celebrity fans include Davina McCall.
Founding a business is brutal…but amazing!
More Founder Stories
‘How we turned the challenge of COVID-19 into the opportunity of a lifetime’
The story you are about to read contains a particularly pure and intoxicating brand of entrepreneurial spirit. High-proof and triple-distilled, it warms the soul, inducing feelings of optimism and inspiration. If you were to ask – Siri, what is entrepreneurial spirit? – Apple’s virtual assistant could do worse than read you this…
From start-up to Europe’s largest online florist
London based Bloom & Wild delivers flowers and plants to households across Europe, and was launched in 2013 by Aron Gelbard and Ben Stanway. It acquired Dutch rival bloomon and France’s Bergamotte in 2021, consolidating its position as Europe’s leading online florist, operating three brands across eight countries. To date the company has raised over £100m in funding from leading global investors including Index Ventures and General Catalyst.
“We started out with one cow”
Business origin stories are often intriguing and inspiring, but that of free-range meat-box supplier field&flower is even better – it’s sublime. Because co-founders James Mansfield and James Flower launched their £13m food business in 2012 not with a glitzy website or fancy app, but with a single cow. The two James’s (we’ll stick to surnames from now on for clarity) met at agricultural college, but this wasn’t your typical farmer-farmer friendship. Mansfield is a South London lad who somehow ended up studying agriculture:
The man on a mission to make parking forgettable
After experiencing the frustration of poor parking experiences, Dan Hubert launched AppyWay in 2013. His vision was to build a platform that would standardise, and centralise a digital version of the kerb. AppyWay’s platform aims to enable cities and fleets to optimise their operations and transition to net zero.
“We’re obsessed with care”
Care is not a traditional business value. Peruse the classics and you’ll see boldness, passion, honesty and perhaps integrity, but not the C-word.
Thankfully things are changing – as Bloom & Wild demonstrates. This flower retailer meets tech company is undoubtedly growing relentlessly. Yet its business values would disorient yesteryear’s ‘manly’ entrepreneurs. “We’re obsessed with care,” says founder Aron Gelbard. “It’s vital to me and it’s a key trait I look for when hiring.”
Dragons’ Den’s Jenny Campbell: “If people lack self-belief, energy and attitude, you won’t believe in them.”
Jenny Campbell does not do negative. If you fancy a moan about the weather, go elsewhere. If your toast landed butter-side down this morning, keep schtum. With Jenny, you’ll do well to keep it positive and energetic. Future Dragons’ Den contestants beware…