Arctic Farm break the ice at SWAIN’s Investment Forum and raise start-up finance

15 August 2012

The South West Angel and Investor Network (SWAIN) are pleased to announce start-up investment into Arctic Farm.

Arctic Farm is an exciting business which has been set up by young entrepreneurs, Will Hammersley (23) and Chris Hannaway (23).  The business began in a humble student kitchen when Will was given an ice cream maker for Christmas.  Lacking fresh cream for the traditional recipes, the students decided to experiment with yoghurt and strawberries.  The result was delicious, tangy frozen yoghurt and the journey began.  The two entrepreneurs quickly developed a sensational range of frozen yoghurts and were stocked in Sainsbury’s.  After the success of the Frozen Yoghurts, they looked around at the UK food and drink market and discovered a niche for a soft drink, currently unexploited in the UK.

They approached SWAIN in October 2011 and after some preparation work were ready to pitch to investors in February 2012.  When asked why they decided to go for angel investment, Will explained,

“We have always operated on a shoe string and frequently found it frustrating that we had to reject several great ideas because of budgetary constraint.  In addition we have ambitious plans and to grow rapidly requires finance.  We found the SWAIN process very helpful with someone always available to answer any of our questions.  At the forum there was a real buzz in the room with a large number of companies and investors present.  We were delighted to manage to raise the money which will allow us to conduct some additional market research, start setting up a supply chain and employ extra staff.”

Philip Tellwright, Managing Director for SWAIN said,

“I’m really pleased to see Arctic Farm succeed especially when you consider their ages and would like to wish them the very best for the future.”