New wellness start-up Heights has raised £1.7 million in a seed funding round via the Seedrs crowdfunding platform; the round also included the institutional investor Forward Partners and a group of angels.

WHO: Founded by Dan Murray-Serter (who previously founded the mobile start-up Grabble) and Joel Freeman, with adviser Dr. Tara Swart, Heights is a subscription-based supplement company focusing on a category it describes as “braincare.” The start-up will market sustainable plant-based supplements that “feed the brain” based on scientific data. Consumers take a brain health survey and then sign up for a monthly, quarterly, or annual subscription.

WHY: The capital will fund customer growth and new product development, including a soon-to-launch “psychobiotic” probiotic aimed at cognition and mental health.

DETAILS:

• Heights raised £1.7 million in a seed funding round via the Seedrs crowdfunding platform that included the institutional investor Forward Partners and a group of angels. Angel investors include Tom Singh (founder of New Look), Damian Bradfield (WeTransfer), Dhiraj Mukherjee (Shazam), Renee Elliot (Planet Organic), and celebrity investor Chris Smalling (an England and Manchester United professional footballer).
• The brand raised a pre-seed convertible of £250,000 in December of 2019 to fuel the launch in January 2020, followed by raising £900,000 from angel investors leading up to the Seedrs campaign.
• The packaging was designed by Pentagram and created to fit through a letterbox.
• The company has a podcast called Braincare that has reached 100,000 downloads.
• Freeman and Murray-Serter started a newsletter on the topic of optimizing cognitive performance that built a following of 60,000 readers, after which they decided to launch the product.