Vejii prepares for IPO: ‘Being public provides faster access to growth capital’
Completion of the CSE listing is conditional upon Vejii providing all outstanding listing documentation, which the company expects to complete in the “near future.”
The Final Prospectus qualifies the issuance of 12,210,857 common shares of the company and 6,105,429 common share purchase warrants issuable upon the conversion of the company's outstanding subscription receipts and special warrants, which it expects to complete by Nov. 1.
Vejii’s path to entering the final stages of its CSE public listing was relatively brief, considering the company first launched in March 2021 with the ambition of becoming the go-to online vegan marketplace carrying over 3,000 SKUs of plant-based products, said the firm.
In April 2021, Vejii acquired VeganEssentials.com, becoming the largest online marketplace to exclusively sell vegan products. In that same month, the company announced a C$10m capital raise to fuel its growth and expansion into new markets and categories.
While its initial focus has been on developing a complete set of plant-based food items, Vejii now offers personal care items and soon-to-launch fashion items made from plant-based materials.
Rise of plant-based foods and online grocery
According to SPINS retail sales data released April 6, 2021, grocery sales of plant-based foods that directly replace animal products (meat, dairy, and seafood) have grown 27% in the past year to $7bn. Between 2018-2020 sales of plant-based foods grew at a nearly 2.5x faster rate than total food sales.
At the same time, online grocery sales have quadrupled since 2019 to $8bn in September 2021, according Brick Meets Click/Mercatus data.
According to the CEO Kory Zelickson, several factors were a consideration for the company’s plans to go public. At the top of the list was allowing retail investors and the public the opportunity to participate in the company’s growth.
“Being public provides faster access to growth capital and the opportunity to leverage share capital for new opportunities,” Zelickson told FoodNavigator-USA.
It also opens the door to future opportunities to grow the business and its customer reach even more, said Zelickson. Vejii’s online marketplace currently reaches Canadian and US customers, who can receive plant-based products from brands such as Beyond Meat, Gardein, and Sweet Earth in 1-2 business days through its Vejii Express service.
“Being a marketplace, we have access to data analytics from hundreds of brands and thousands of products, which provides opportunities for strategic partnerships and M&A.”
In addition to completing its public listing, Velickson previously told FoodNavigator-USA that the company has plans to expand into international overseas markets.
"...this really gives Vejii a great boost in trying to gain as much of the online market share for grocery e-commerce as possible," said Zelickson.
