Finnish plant-based company, Oddlygood, has taken another step towards its ambition of becoming one of the leading plant-based companies in the UK and Europe, with the acquisition of pioneering British plant-based company, Rude Health, for an undisclosed sum.

Oddlygood is a key player in the Nordic plant-based market, where in six years it’s grown to an anticipated turnover close to €50m this year and a widely stocked range of plant-based alternatives to milk, cheese, desserts, cooking products and yoghurts.

It launched its plant-based desserts into the UK market in 2023 and established itself in the competitive UK plant-based drinks category earlier on this year. Oddlygood’s mission is to raise the standard of plant-based food and drink. The UK is a key territory for the company and its acquisition of Rude Health will further diversify the business beyond the Nordics and drive both UK and European growth.  

Camilla and Nick Barnard co-founded Rude Health in 2005 at their kitchen table. Since then they’ve steadily grown the business and its offering, becoming a top five UK plant-based drinks brand alongside its range of cereals and snacks. The brand, which has always focused on quality ingredients and taste, is now widely available across major retailers and foodservice operators in over 40 countries and has a successful online presence. It has garnered a loyal customer base – even opening its own café in London which has been running since 2016. This year, the company is on track to deliver €33 million in revenue – its biggest year to date. And recently, Rude Health has recertified as a BCorp with a score of 120.7, putting it in the top 3 food and drink brands in the UK.

Rude Health will continue to make the products everyone has come to know and enjoy. Oddlygood will establish a base for its UK and European operations and support the expansion plans. The move will see Oddlygood increase its market share of the competitive UK plant-based drinks category, worth £511m¹.

Niko Vuorenmaa, CEO of Oddlygood, added; ‘’Our ambition is to become one of the leading plant-based companies in the UK and Europe and this acquisition will help accelerate this, but key to its success is the strong alignment between Rude Health and Oddlygood. 

Rude Health is one of the biggest success stories in British plant-based food. It’s nothing less than impressive the way the team has grown its product range alongside such a distinctive and well thought of brand to deliver commercial success.

Both Oddlygood and Rude Health have complementary portfolios, target audiences and capabilities which will enable us to grow the business.  What we’ve achieved with Oddlygood in such little time is down to the expertise and passion of our team. We’ll focus the same attention and care to Rude Health and look forward to collaborating with their team.’’

Camilla Barnard, Co-Founder of Rude Health, says; ‘We created Rude Health at our kitchen table, to make healthy eating a celebration, not a sacrifice. From these basic beginnings mixing muesli we branched out into more cereals and then dairy alternative drinks. The Rude Health® brand has grown beyond anything I could imagine to become a household name. Now is the right time to find a partner who can help take it to the next stage of success and Oddlygood shares so many values and the ambition to make this possible.’’  

Tim Smith, CEO, Rude Health, commented; ‘’Joining forces with Oddlygood opens up new opportunities for growth and innovation, and our shared missions around taste, quality and the crucial role of plant-based food and drink make this a natural fit. We’re looking forward to working together and leveraging our strengths and making the healthy choice a celebration (not a sacrifice) for our customers. It’s an exciting new chapter for the brand and the team.’’

The global plant-based dairy alternatives market is re-gathering pace and is expected to grow to €63,6 billion by 2030², making it a hot bed for new investment and innovation. This will be Oddlygood’s second acquisition, after acquiring Nordic plant-based brand, Planti, in 2023 to further drive growth and market-leading innovation. 

The drive for high quality innovation in this sector is key to this acquisition. Oddlygood’s founding company, Valio, has over 100 years’ dairy expertise in addition to plant-based dairy and meat alternatives. A key player in the international dairy products market, with a turnover of €2,3bn, it launched Oddlygood® in 2018 to apply its expertise to a new and relevant sector. It later established it as a spinoff in 2021 and it’s now growing globally at over 40% year-on-year³. The brand’s commitment to innovation includes the production of its signature Barista Oat drinks, where it uses all of the oat flour, delivering great taste and quality whilst minimising oat waste.

Vuorenmaa added; ‘’The UK market is notoriously competitive with established leaders but we believe that bringing these brands and teams together will reinvigorate the market and re-engage both new and existing users of plant-based products. We have total confidence in the future of the UK and European markets and the quality of the brands and the products now in our portfolio.’’  

Rude Health was advised by Spayne Lindsay & Co, the leading consumer-focused M&A firm. Oddlygood was advised by leading Nordic M&A advisor Access Partners.

CONTACTS:

Nina Gillsvik, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Oddlygood, +46 70 558 72 93, nina@oddlygood.com

About Oddlygood

The brand Oddlygood® was launched by Valio in 2018 and became a spinoff in 2021. Valio is Finland’s leading dairy company, a key player in the international dairy products market and has expertise in handling a wide range of ingredients including fruit and cereals. Its dairy expertise has helped Oddlygood create market leading plant-based food and drink products. Its innovative range includes oat, soy and almond drinks, as well as alternatives to cheese, yoghurts, cooking products and desserts. 

Oddlygood launched in the UK in June 2023, following its success in the Nordics, where it is the second largest plant-based dairy company in Finland⁴. It is also the second largest company in plant-based milk alternative drinks and yogurt alternatives in Sweden⁵. Oddlygood’s owners Valio and Mandatum Asset Management Private Equity, enable it to respond to the growing, global demand for plant-based products. Oddlygood secured €27,5m in funding with Mandatum Asset Management in 2021, to help drive its global expansion and commitment to innovation. Its products are available in Finland, Sweden, the Baltics, UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, Poland and more. Its global team is on a mission to raise the standard of plant-based food and drink. For more information, please visit oddlygood.com or @Oddlygood on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and LinkedIn.

About Rude Health

Rude Health was founded by husband and wife team, Nick and Camilla Barnard, in 2005, when they created the Ultimate Muesli at their kitchen table, when on a mission to challenge the assumption that healthy food had to be bland and boring. 

In 2013 more people were asking to try the cereals with a dairy-alternative. So, they started making their own, first with the Almond Drink, now the brand’s best-selling dairy-alternative. 

Today, Rude Health® is found in kitchens in over 40 markets, but the approach to flavour remains the same:

• Quality ingredients. Nothing artificial. Nothing refined.
• Helping make the healthy choice a celebration, not a sacrifice.

The brand offers Dairy-free Drinks, Cereals and Snacks, achieving 24 Great Taste Awards since 2020! Rude Health’s commitment to ingredients means each is meticulously picked for flavour, provenance, sustainability and health. 

In 2016 Rude Health launched a cafe at its HQ, to showcase their food and drinks to the public. And in 2021 the company proudly became a B Corp. They are committed to championing sustainability through sourcing and packaging whilst leaving the planet, their team and consumers in ruder health. They recently recertified with a score of 120.7, making them the #3 food and drink BCorp brand in the UK.  

Rude Health is on track to deliver €33 million in revenue – its biggest year to date.

References

¹NielsenIQ SCANTRACK, Total Coverage, 52W/E 24.8.24, plant-based drinks defined as Soy, Almond, Coconut, Oat Drinks

² Precedence Research. Dairy Alternatives Market (By Source; By Product; By Formulation; By Distribution Channel) – Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, Regional Outlook, and Forecast 2022-2030.

³ Oddlygood global value growth 2023

⁴ NielsenIQ Homescan, total Finland, plant-based dairy alternatives, value purchases, 52 weeks ending 8.9.2024. (Copyright © NielsenIQ, ref. 05762308, 11.10.2024)

⁵ Based on NIQ RMS data, Total Sweden Grocery, Plant based Drinks and Yoghurt, Value, MAT TY, ending 2024-10-06 (Copyright © 2023, NIQ, Ref.no. 05759730:2, Date: 2024-10-08)