Candy Kittens founders lead £750,000 investment in Nuud chewing gum
Candy Kittens’ founders Jamie Laing and Ed Williams are today announcing their investment in plastic free chewing gum brand Nuud, founded by Keir Carnie, who pitched but didn’t bag a Dragon in The Den earlier this year.
Nuud is Jamie and Ed’s first investment via their latest venture, Tuckshop London – the investment company they recently founded alongside long standing industry partner, Katjes.
Ed and Jamie have championed plant-based and sustainable confectionery since the Candy Kittens launch in 2014, which has become the leading vegan brand in the category. They were immediately impressed with the strength of the Nuud brand and its campaigning “Chew Plants Not Plastic” proposition, together with the quality of the product.
“Who knew that chewing gum contains as much plastic as a drinking straw? Jamie and I were blown away with Keir and the business – a brand that is taking on one of the biggest environmental issues in confectionery, with a product that tastes and looks great” said Ed Williams.
Over 100,000 tonnes of plastic gum is chewed each year in the UK and according to Keep Britain Tidy more than 95% of our pavements have gum stuck to them costing the taxpayer millions of pounds to clean up. Nuud is a plant based, plastic free, biodegradable chewing gum that is rapidly disrupting the plastic gum industry. Launched earlier this year, Nuud is now available nationwide in Waitrose, Morrisons, the Co-op and online.
Keir Carnie said: “I’m over the moon to have partnered with Ed and Jamie – and a Kitten is better than a Dragon any day! It’s such a huge opportunity to be able to learn from their success. This partnership will accelerate the growth of the business and our ability to solve the plastic gum problem for good.”
Via Tuckshop, the confectionery mavericks hope to support the next generation of rebellious Food & Drink entrepreneurs. “We’ve learnt a lot in the last ten years, and are proud to offer a helping hand to young brands on a mission to disrupt the ugly incumbents dominating this old fashioned industry,” said Jamie Laing.