AnovonA offers protein drinks under the mucki brand and mainly uses raw materials from the Austrian Alps. The protein is said to be specifically enriched with essential amino acids using medical know-how. The drinks have already established themselves in Austrian supermarkets. The young company has now collected an investment of millions as part of a seed round and is also planning to launch a plant-based protein drink at the supermarket chains Billa and Billa Plus.
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mucki wants to open up the DACH region
Three Austrian entrepreneurial families were involved in the Seed IIa round that has now been signed. Harald Lassmann’s family, who work in the international logistics of food and pharmaceutical products, have joined the company. Existing investors also increased their holdings. The Biogena Group, managed by Albert Schmidbauer, was on board early on and is now expanding its involvement in food retailing.
“Products that sell so extraordinarily well off the shelf like mucki from a standing start are rare. The international retail customers of Biogena Alimentastic will certainly be very satisfied with the eye-catching and authentic premium protein drinks,” says Laurenz Hoffmann, Managing Director of Biogena Alimentastic. The third entrepreneurial family that is now investing in mucki comes from Germany. With the fresh capital, the startup wants to open up the entire DACH region.
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Billa sees high demand from customers
mucki can also win over new sales partners. The introduction at Rewe Süd and Rewe International was already successful in May 2022. The protein drinks produced in Salzburg quickly emerged as the most popular products. That is why the young company focuses primarily on them. In 2022, Billa brought the first non-sweet protein drink, the “mucki Protein Ayran”, to its stores in Vienna, Lower Austria, Burgenland and Styria.
According to Billa, customer demand is very high, which is why the supermarket chain now offers the products in all branches throughout Austria. In addition to the well-known “Whey Protein Drinks”, the first plant-based variant, the “Plant Protein Chocolate”, is now starting at Billa.
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Plant-based drink to reach new target group
mucki founder Alexander Novotny wants to appeal to a broader target group with the new plant-based drinks. “With the chocolate protein, which was initially available exclusively from Billa, it was important to us to develop a really enjoyable drink with the highest protein quality that makes both vegans and non-vegans completely happy in terms of taste – regardless of their dietary preferences.”