Exhale Healthy Coffee

Idea

Introduction

Exhale makes ridiculously healthy coffee, in an uncompromisingly sustainable way... that doesn't sacrifice on taste.

For too long coffee has been viewed as a guilty treat. But a coffee bean is actually a seed that comes from a fruit. Our science-led process, involving 9 different independent lab tests, is designed to lock in more of coffee’s natural, fruity goodness while excluding contaminants.

Coffee is drank by 86% of UK adults and 7 out of 10 people are now looking to lead healthier lifestyles. Yet, incredibly, we believe no healthier option existed in coffee.

After 2 years of research, inspired Alex's own health journey (read: battle), enter Exhale. A lifestyle brand on a mission to reinvent the coffee category by introducing the world to the power of healthy coffee.

Substantial accomplishments to date

Since launching in October 2020 we have:

• Grown to £1m annualised revenue*

• Over 5,000 D2C coffee subscribers providing 80% of revenue**

• 225% revenue growth in 2022**

• Named as a ‘Top 10 health trend’ by The Times newspaper.

• Interviewed on almost 20 podcasts extolling the virtues of healthy coffee!

• Inspired a community of 61k emails and 25k Instagram followers.

• Rated 4.8* from 811 Trust Pilot Reviews

• MER = 13, i.e. the above was achieved with just 8% of revenue spent on paid advertising, including agency fees!

• Independent lab tests showed one brewed cup of Exhale coffee = 1.8kg of blueberries in antioxidants!

We’ve experienced first-hand the power of leading a naturally healthy lifestyle fuelled by ridiculously healthy coffee.

We're now on a mission to spread that message and to support more of the world through their own health journeys - and so creating the world's leading healthy coffee brand.

* calculated by annualising the average of the first 11 weeks of 2023 turnover
** based on unaudited management accounts

Monetisation strategy

Exhale is sold direct-to-consumer, via our Shopify website. This will remain our core revenue-stream.

We're also exploring 3 other big opportunities to unlock our next step-change of growth:

1) International - We've sold D2C in 35 countries and counting. And 22% of our website traffic comes from outside of the UK... despite never advertising or actively looking overseas.

2) Cafe offering - Cafe's across the UK are going healthy. From gluten-free brownies, to vegan salads, to sugar-free this and organic that. The only thing remaining is the one they sell the most of, their coffee. Enter Exhale!

3) Wholesale - Our current format of freshly roasted coffee relies on being delivered fast and super fresh to customers. However, we are hoping to launch a new format of an RTD (ready-to-drink) range of canned cold brewed healthy coffee. This would have a longer shelf life and so make the perfect wholesale product.

Use of proceeds

Our key aims are to maintain our current rate of D2C growth, strengthen our brand, and develop and launch our new line of products. This investment will be used for:

Brand Marketing - 40%

We believe Exhale's brand strength, authenticity and credibility have led to our success to-date. We plan on working with the masters of brand building, All Conditions Media, to turn Exhale into a household name.

Performance Marketing - 40%

We've seen promising results from paid advertising, spending just 8% of revenue (including agency fees). We plan to hire a senior ecommerce manager to optimise our ecommerce engine, coupled with exploring new channels with our agencies in a unified way.

New Product (or other opportunity) Development and launch - 20%

A portion of funds raised will be used to explore the opportunities mentioned above. Choosing one, and hiring business developement or similar roles as needed to develop and launch.