Lyre’s Non-Alcoholic Spirit Co has announced the successful closure of seed round funding, securing a total of $16 million in growth capital.
Lyre's said the significant business injection would provide ongoing investment for core product growth, category innovation and new market expansion.
In the 18 months since its launch, Lyre’s has become the world's most awarded non-alcoholic spirit brand. The non-alcoholic category is rapidly emerging with triple-digit growth experienced globally in the last 12 months driven by health, lifestyle and responsibility factors across all age groups.
Despite a challenging 2020, Lyre said it had focused on the direct-to-consumer segment and delivered over 400% monthly recurring revenue growth since January, exceeding all forecasts the company had previously set.
It has also created 13 products since launch and many more slated for the next six months.
Mark Livings, Lyre’s CEO and Co-founder said: “This growth positions the Lyre’s brand for continued success and leadership with high quality non-alcoholic alternatives in one of the fastest-growth consumer brand categories in the world.
“Our business anticipates and matches the trends of the consumer and culture and our current product innovation is being developed to match alcohol spirit flavours and styles.
"Lyre’s was created to shake up the drinks category and put the choice back into the consumer’s social occasion to drink freely. The recognition from the multiple, respected, international award competitions shows we clearly have something that is resonating.
“The next year demarcates our business evolution from a start-up to a true multinational beverage company, with manufacturing in multiple, global locations, compliance for new markets and continued recruitment firmly at the top of our task list. We’ll need all aspects of our plan to come together, delivered by a great team of people with the Lyre’s esprit de corps to grow our leadership position in the nonalcoholic spirits category.”
Major participants in the seed round include VRD Investment, Doehler Ventures, DLF Venture and Maropost Ventures with a number of European, American and Australasian family offices and HNWI also participating.
Fellow co-founder Carl Hartmann said: “The investors we’ve brought into this business see value well beyond the short to medium-term impacts of the pandemic and will bring significantly more value beyond their participation from a capital perspective.
"Good companies with strong fundamentals and a truly unique market offering can always raise money, even in challenging times.”
Lyre’s Non-Alcoholic Spirit is available in more than 30 markets around the world, with increased presence in both on and off-premise venues.
“Lyre’s is a black swan emergence of an entirely new consumer products category,” Livings concluded. “I can’t wait to see what we can do in our next 12 months.”
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