Heura maintained its million-dollar losses in 2023

BarcelonaAs is usual in the sector of start-ups, In its first years of existence, the vegetable protein company Heura has prioritized growth in profitability. In the latest results published in the Commercial Registry, as ARA has been able to consult, the Catalan vegan food company maintained losses in its Spanish subsidiary of 18.5 million euros. In this year, Heura achieved a turnover of 21.2 million euros. However, this company does not include the income of the rest of the group's subsidiaries, which had already expanded into markets such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy. The company emphasizes that the losses do include all operating costs both in the countries in which they operate and in the central offices.

"The 2023 results are part of the company's expansion and innovation plan, which established a new business plan with the aim of achieving profitability in the fourth quarter of 2025 and reaching the first profitable year in 2026," the co-founder assures ARA. The company also points out that at the end of 2023 the Spanish business unit achieved profitability and that in 2024 it was already profitable for the entire year.

2023 was also the year in which Heura announced a redundancy plan (ERE) for 10% of the workforce, at that time around 170 workers. At that time, the Barcelona-based company justified this staff reduction as part of a series of measures that they had implemented to achieve profitability and leave behind the accumulated losses. It also attributed it to a context marked by inflation, rising costs in the value chain and reduced capacity to access financing.

"Heura has moved from a hyper-growth approach to a sustainable growth strategy, with the aim of achieving financial autonomy in 2025. This has meant a transformation to improve efficiency and focus on achievements close to profitability," the company argued in the report. It also assured that it had become the leading brand in the Spanish market with a 26% market share, which was double that of the second player. The company moved earlier this year to a new headquarters in Barcelona's 22@ technology district, in the Newwork Coworking building.

Financing

However, while the green numbers are not coming, Heura has managed to survive the arrival of new competitors - the white label has also entered fully into the vegetable protein segment - thanks to the capital injections of its investors. The company closed the last round of financing of 40 million euros just a year ago. The Dutch food giant Upfield (now Flora Food Group), owner of brands such as Flora and Tulipán margarines or Ligeresa mayonnaise, participated in this operation. The fund specialising in vegetable protein Unovis and the vehicles European Circular Bioeconomy Fund and Newtree Impact also participated in Heura.