WASHINGTON, D.C. May 5th, 2021 – Ayoba, the only premium grass-fed beef Biltong and Droëwors brand offered in the United States that is Paleo & Keto Certified in addition to being Whole30 Approved, just launched an investment crowdfunding campaign on Republic—where brand supporters can invest directly in the company.
Ayoba was born as a result of brothers Wian and Emile van Blommestein, alongside of their father, recreating a long-standing family tradition of making South African beef snacks they couldn’t find substitutes for when they immigrated to the United States. The brothers officially launched the family business in 2015 after seeing that the jerky category was continuing to grow without any real innovation and that Ayoba’s products would be able to take market share by offering a no-sugar, more tender, and higher protein alternative.
Fast-forward to today, the brand is available nationwide in over 700 retail locations including Whole Foods, Erewhon, Sprouts, and Wegmans. Ayoba was named as one of only six finalists in Amazon’s Small Business of the Year in 2019 and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Yahoo Finance, and Forbes. In the last twenty-four months Ayoba has made over $2M in revenue.
“Crowdfunding platforms like Republic are allowing startups in the growth phase, like ours, to receive investments directly from our loyal customers and supporters,” explains Wian van Blommestein, who is the company’s co-founder and President. “There will always be a need for venture capital funding in the consumer packaged good space, but these new investment vehicles are inclusive and very exciting to be a part of. In addition to allowing our most loyal customers to invest, we’ve also received investments from influential investors like Randi Zuckerberg.”
The Healthy Snacks consumer-packaged-good market was worth $78.13 billion dollars as of 2019 and that number is expected to grow to $108.11 billion dollars by the end of the 2027 according to a recent report by Fortune Business Insights. When it comes to ‘meat snacks’, the market was $3.5 billon dollars in 2019 and is expected to be worth $4.9 billion dollars by 2022 and $11.3 billion by 2026—making it great time to get in on the ground floor with a brand like Ayoba.
“Being first generation immigrants, we quickly learned the value of family as a support system. For us here at Ayoba, the words family, friends, team, and community are indistinguishable and interchangeable,” states Wian van Blommestein. “The funding raised will help us to create new jobs by growing our team, increase our brand awareness through revenue driven ad campaigns, and grow our geographical footprint by supporting retailers and new store launches.”
“Early on in Ayoba's lifespan, we relied heavily on our community for all aspects of the business, including friends dedicating their weekends to take professional product photos or work sampling events along with DC-Area South Africans going into new Whole Foods locations requesting our products and so much more,” continues Wian van Blommestein. “That is why we treat every one of our customers like family, because after all, without their support we wouldn't be where we are today, or get to where we want to be in the future. With recent investment regulation changes through the JOBS Act, now anyone can have a direct impact on our business and join our family by becoming investors in Ayoba through our Republic campaign.”
Campaign link: https://republic.co/ayoba
About Ayoba:
After having moved to the United States from South Africa, the van Blommestein family missed their traditional South African recipe beef snacks. So, they decided to dust off their family’s recipe book to produce their own authentic South African Biltong and Droëwors. Ayoba’s Biltong is the only Biltong in the US that is both Keto & Paleo Certified. Ayoba is a leading Biltong and Droëwors supplier through natural distributors in the US and can be found at top grocers such as Whole Foods Market, Sprouts Farmers Market and Wegmans. As well as online on ThriveMarket.com, Amazon.com and on their own website www.ayobafoods.com