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Scottish private equity firm invests in Good Hemp

Edinburgh-based private equity fund, Inverleith, has made a seven figure, multi-million GBP investment in Braham and Murray Good Hemp, a plant based food and drink brand which manufactures products from hemp seed.

Inverleith invests in consumer brand companies within the health & wellbeing, lifestyle and heritage sectors. It specialises in internationalising and commercialising brands, helping them to realise their full potential. Its Partners are ex-Chairman and Chief Executive of Noble Group, Ben Thomson and ex-Chief Executive of The Glenmorangie Company and Partner L Capital (LVMH), Paul Skipworth.
 
Other portfolio investments through its Fund and high net worth investor club include a majority stake in the 2017 ‘Independent Bottler of the Year’, The Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS), a premium single cask spirits club; Chapel Down, the leading English sparkling wine brand; and Emily Crisps, an up-and-coming fruit and vegetable crisp manufacturer.
 
Through its combined Fund and investor club stake, Inverleith has moved to majority ownership of Braham and Murray Good Hemp, a company founded by Henry Braham and Glynis Murray at their Devon farm. The couple have been pioneers in developing food ingredients from hemp and launched their first ‘Good Oil’ into UK retail in 2004. The company now produces a range of hemp-based consumer brand products including a milk alternative, natural protein supplements, protein flours and hemp seeds.
 
From a nutritional perspective, hemp seeds are rich in Omega 3 and GLA, a source of high quality proteins and dietary fibres. The milk alternative sector has been growing fast and Good Hemp’s milk alternative product has the advantage that it has a similar colour and texture to milk.
 
Hemp also has strong environmental advantages. Hemp (cannabis sativa) which contains no THC (psychoactive element found in cannabis indica), does not need pesticides to grow and returns a lot of soil nutrients to the ground as the plant fades. Hemp captures 4x more CO2 than the same areas of trees and requires 14x less water to grow than cotton. The hemp category is a growing one, in the UK and globally.
 
The investment from Inverleith LLP will see the company expand the distribution of its Good Hemp milk alternative product in the UK and overseas, widen its hemp food and drink product portfolio and see a new marketing campaign focused on Good Hemp’s nutritional qualities.
 
Inverleith Managing Partner, Paul Skipworth, says: “Good Hemp continues as a successful investment within our health & wellness investment category. The company is firmly placed to take advantage of the high growth plant based food & drink trend, with high quality hemp based products which are nutritionally rich, whilst also being manufactured from a sustainable plant. Supported by the Inverleith LLP experience and expertise, combined with its further investment, we believe that Good Hemp is perfectly positioned to reach new consumers and continue to flourish both in the UK and internationally.”
 
Ben Thomson, Inverleith Chairman, says: “Henry and Glynis have built a tremendous business from the ground up through their vision of what could be achieved with hemp. We are really excited about Good Hemp’s products and believe Good Hemp has the potential to gain a significant share within the fast growing milk alternative market, as well as within other plant based categories.”

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