Neutonic Eyes UAE Takeover Following Backing from Major Investors
James Smith and Chris Williamson’s Neutonic appears to be UAE-bound after the pair secured £2.7 million from major investors in their first funding round.
With fresh capital in the bank, the flourishing nootropic brand is now valued at around £14.6 million.
Australian influencer and co-founder of the Sweat app, Kayla Itsines, has bought in, as have Grenade founder Alan Barratt and Dubai regular Mike Thurston.
Smith and Williamson launched their Neutonic drink — a blend of natural caffeine and nootropics — in November 2023.
In the 18 months that have passed since, the influential pair have generated over £7 million worth of sales, shifting more than three million cans of the productivity beverage on Amazon, TikTok shop and their own website.
“Today, we can announce that we raised $3.7 million in our first round of funding for Neutonic,” Smith said.
“This brings our company valuation to $20 million.
“And there’s probably going to be quite a bit of news and press surrounding this. Just so you know, this doesn’t mean we’ve sold the business.
“It means we’ve brought onboard some exceptional talent and some people of fantastic influence — including Alan Barratt from Grenade.
“Securing this funding means that we can now produce more stock, more products, go into more territories and finally take on the big challenge of retail — putting Neutonic into shops.”
The fresh cash injection will also be used to grow the Neutonic team, as Smith and Williamson eye the UAE’s burgeoning fitness scene as opportunity for expansion.
“UAE, we’re coming for you,” Smith wrote on social media.
Australia, where the YouTuber turned entrepreneur currently lives, is also a market they’re keen to breach before 2025’s end.
Aside from the flagship Neutonic drink, the duo have also created Focus capsules and sachets as caffeine-free alternatives.
Smith, who shot to fame through posting straight-talking takes on the fitness industry, and Williamson, the owner of chart-topping podcast Modern Wisdom, have a combined Instagram following of 4.1 million.
Despite possessing some serious marketing might, they say “blood, sweat, tears, raw capital and sleep” have gone into scaling Neutonic to this point.
According to Smith, neither of them has taken a penny out of the business so far — and they don’t plan to anytime soon, regardless of the hefty investment.
“What we’re building here is a fully fledged nootropic business, where we’re looking to make the nation more productive,” Smith added.
“There have never been more distractions with social media, alerts going off on your phone, juggling so many different tasks at the same time.
“Think about it this way: to us we feel productivity could be the next fitness. Rather than people needing a PB in the gym or to run the fastest 5k, some people just need to be able to commit to lock in every day…
“We’re looking forward to growing this. Not just being one of the most popular ‘influencer’ drinks on Instagram — but being one of the biggest nootropic businesses worldwide.”
Now that Neutonic has plenty of muscle behind it — both financially and literally — from some of the fitness industry’s most recognised faces, a UAE launch looks like a matter of when, not if.
It’s something we know the pair are keen to make happen. Watch this space.
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