Reasons to join the Naka revolution:
- Product: Best-selling drink at many outlets. Very high consumption volume. Excellent consumer re-purchase rate.
- People: Hungry and bootstrapping founding team – drive. Board members include former Coca Cola, Carlsberg & Tobii senior managers – experience. First employee is an award-winning marketing professional – creativity.
- Timing: Soaring health trend. Functional drinks are the fastest growing beverage segment (1.2 BSEK already). Natural ingredients are increasingly popular.
An exit is foreseen for 2020 at 700-1300% return on investment.
It’s simple. The more focus you have the more you can achieve. The most successful people are highly focused. So why are there no effective beverages that boost your brain every day?
There is an obvious gap in the market for focus drinks – and Naka is here to fill it.
Functional drinks is the fastest growing beverage segment, because people want healthier alternatives to coffee and sugary options.
Industry reports show that the consumer’s desire for healthy functional drinks is overwhelming. People seem to be asking: Is there a secret ingredient for focus?
We offer a convenient little helper: a “Drink to Think”. It provides an immediate brain boost, without being unhealthy and it doesn’t lead to a crash.
You grab a bottle, open it, drink it, and you can feel the change. It is easier to stay away from your smartphone to check Instagram for the 1000th time. Instead you can focus on being productive.
You know that sense of excitement when your mind is working at 100 percent? When you are concentrated and calm, understand anything and get things done? That’s being focused – and that is why you drink Naka.
Product
Product features
We have found the perfect recipe for focus and bottled it in Naka.
Naka’s natural ingredients are healthier and more effective than artificial alternatives.
The key-ingredients are:
- Green tea
- Guarana
- Ginseng
L-theanine from tea, caffeine from guarana and ginsenosides from ginseng have these extraordinary benefits:
- Increased cognitive ability
- Stress resistance
- No crash-effect often associated with artificially caffeinated products with high levels of sugar and taurin.
We package the product in glass bottles. It is the only way to avoid preservatives and to keep the botanical extracts intact. Naka is 100% natural. It is developed in Sweden and filled in Germany.
Product use cases
Naka enthusiasts drink it at home, at the office, in the gym or at university. We have gotten to know many of these photographers, climbers, students, and yogis and they have one thing in common: The need to be alert and sharp in high pressure situations.
We love this, because we created Naka to help people to be productive and on point all day, every day.
We target health-conscious and mindful consumer groups, which are most careful about what they consume. Having a 45% repurchase rate here, when 25% is already considered excellent by distributors, makes us particularly proud.
Market
Target Market
We have a unique offer in the fastest growing segment of a competitive market.
The “functional drinks market” is a billion SEK market in Sweden and is predicted to grow by 40% by 2019. This growth comes from natural alternatives and new consumption environments catering modern, health-conscious people.
This segment is our main target.
Today, we sell Naka Focus to early adopters and trend-setters: students in high-pressure environments and thinkers at fast, innovative companies.
Since the market is huge, even a small slice is huge.
8.000.000 bottles/year represent 2% of the Swedish market. We plan to get there by 2019.
Competitive landscape
Research shows that natural alternatives don’t compete with energy drinks, they are instead consumed on top of energy drinks. You can think of it as drinks used in universities versus drinks used in night clubs.
Naka Focus is categorized as a functional drink.
Recent success stories in beverage come from changing the consumption environment for functional drinks. NOCCO and Celsius have taken drinks out of parties and adrenaline into fitness and endorphins.
We take another step and take drinks to the spot were we spend most of our time:
to the offices, studios, agencies and universities.
Unique differentiator from competitors
Focus drinks are a new segment with a new consumption environment. Naka Focus has a unique position and brand.
This helps us to establish Naka in the market without having to directly compete for consumption with multi-billion dollar companies, such as Red Bull.
Business Model
Company revenue streams
We outsource production and distribution to create revenue through a margin charged to our distributors.
It is the same business model that Red Bull works with and has two key advantages: One, it allows effortless scalability and low fixed costs. Two, it permits us to focus on what determines the long-term success of our business: to build an exciting brand and engage key customers.
The first strategic step was to distribute selectively and build brand in this way. Now we are entering a second phase to scale distribution and focus on sales. For this we signed a national distribution deal.
Product/service distribution
A brand building approach to distribution is the key to success.
We have signed a distribution deal with the industry leader Martin & Servera, with 4000 sales points and are going to sell through the HÖRS group, catering to 170 000 students.
First we will be available where early adopters need most focus. Additional distribution channels are added step by step. The office segment will be followed by convenience stores and finally supermarkets
This way sustainable growth is created, which is proved by Vitamin Well (Apoteket to build brand) and Red Bull (key night clubs).
Execution
Previous milestones/traction
2015
- First bottle was sold!
- First investor: Jon Widegren, founder of Flippin’ Burgers
- Investment from Almi Företagspartner
- Accepted to Stockholm School of Economics Incubator
- Expert column at Veckans Affärer
- Beverage personality of the year award
- Sold 10 000 bottles with a consumer repurchase rate of 45%
- 30 sales points, best selling drink at many
- Voted into Almi Invest’s ‘Sweden’s hottest Startups’
2016
- Distribution deal with Martin & Servera, reaching 4000 + sales points
- HÖRS group, reaching 170 000 students
- Rebranding to Naka (previously “Akuo”) with award winning agency
- award-winning marketeer Harri Leppälä joined
- Senior professionals joined board of directors
Next key objectives
We balance boundless ambition with a disciplined approach to guarantee long-term success. We want to avoid the typical pitfalls in the beverage industry – expanding distribution faster than demand is created.
2016 – nation-wide sales & preparation for expansion
- Going into broad market
- Large scale office distribution
- Available at all universities in Sweden
- Collecting & proving statistics on consumer acceptance of product for expansion
- Signing distribution deals with German companies – both founders are German and each have networks
2017 – expansion
•Executing capital-backed expansion into one key international market: Germany.
We plan to be in 7 markets by 2020!
Previous Financing
We raised 800.000 SEK for product development (award winning) and launch (successful, statistical consumer behaviour best for recent new products).
Partnerships
Supply partners, chosen for quality and scalability potential:
- Sensient technologies, New York stock-exchange listed beverage producer.
- Ardagh-glass, leading glass bottle producer
- Kromer Fruchtsäfte, German filling company, specialized in filling without preservatives.
Product partners:
- Dr. David Gritsch, post doctoral researcher in Neuroscience at Harvard Medical School
Brand-building, strategy and design partners
- Award-winning agency Amore Brand Identity
- Veckans Affärer, expert column
- Stockholm School of Economics Business Lab network – (other entrepreneurs include: Klarna Founder Sebastian Siemiatkowski and DigiExam founders Nima & Johan)
Industry Recognition
Industry Certification/Awards
- Almi Invest: “Sweden’s hottest startups”
- Beverage daily: “Beverage Personality of the year”
- Venture Cup: “Finalist Stockholm”
- Business Challenge: Final day
- Stockholm School of Economics Business Lab: accepted and graduated from incubator
Use of Funds
We have a proven product and business model, we will use the funds to scale it.
This is how the lions share of the money will be used:
- Marketing & branding: focus on sampling & event marketing to core customers
- Sales & distribution: acquisition of new, high quality sales points
One significant cost advantage comes from having a core team that is financially motivated by by stock incentives. We are motivated, hungry and work extremely hard at low salaries, working towards our vision.
Team
Lukas von Grebmer
”Beverage Personality of the Year 2014” award by BeverageDaily.com. Lukas has experience from management consulting. MSc. in Management at Stockholm School of Economics. A native German speaker, speaking four languages fluently and a mindfulness meditation enthusiast: >3 years daily practice. Lukas is analytical, communicative, and a strategist. lukas@naka-focus.se +46700298168
Fritz Rabeler
Co-founder & CMO
Former top order manager at BP (British Petroleum) & did consultant projects for Adlibris and Tictail. BSc. in Economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam & MSc. in Management at Stockholm School of Economics. A native German, lived in 6 countries, biked 6000 km through Central America and lived with Shaolin Monks for 3 months. Fritz is creative, energetic, and the natural voice of Naka. fritz@naka-focus.se +46760532225
Harri Leppälä
Creative Director
Harri has more than 7 years of experience working in marketing at the highest level from his time with Wieden & Kennedy and Apple. He holds degrees from Berghs School of Communication and Hyper Island. He is an award winning marketing professional and our communications guru.
Jon Widegren
Early Investor & Advisor
Jon Widegren is the Founder of Flippin’ Burgers and was named “Hamburger king” by the press. Jon started the burger trend in Stockholm and is running the arguably most successful restaurant in the city. Jon is an expert in his industry and showed his believe in Naka by being one of the first
David Gritsch
Product Advisor
Medical doctor and post-doctoral researcher in Neuroscience at Harvard Medical School. David has been advising us with the selection of the botanical extracts and the synergies between their active ingredients. His help and expertise in creating an effective and healthy formula has been invaluable.
Lisa West Åkerblom
Chairman of the Board
Lisa West Åkerblom has 25 years of experience in international leadership positions at innovative, fast growing companies. Most recently she played a key management team role at Tobii Technology, turning the business profitable and generating a 30% revenue increase in preparation for one of the most sought after IPOs of a Swedish company ever. Lisa brings to us a combination of technical, financial, business and legal competence coupled with extraordinary experience in building teams, driving strategy and establishing partnerships to help companies grow. We cannot imagine anyone to come even close to such a powerful mix of skills and drive. Lisa is commited as a shareholder
Ingmar Larsson
Board Member
Ingmar has long experience in the beverage industry as head of sales at the Carlsberg group and at Coca Cola. He also has 10+ years of experience at management level with ICA. He has a detailed understanding of the industry and a vast network. He has in depth knowledge in negotiating and closing deals. Ingmar is committed as a shareholder.