Your Weekly Slice of Retail & E-Commerce Startups 🚀

Hey 👋

Welcome back to The Startup Slice!

The sun’s out in the UK, and so are the brands. We’ve been spotting way more IRL activations, from pop-up carts to street sampling. It’s clear that consumer startups are leaning back into human contact, using real-world touch points to build loyalty offline, not just online.

This week we’re diving into Gen-Z’s protein obsession, JUBEL’s funky flavoured beer and a paneer brand growing from strength to strength with their retail listings. 

👀 Sneak peek for this coming week, keep an eye out on our LinkedIn for insight into the next creator-led brand that’s coming to market and a cheeky retail safari across London. 

This edition is a 2-minute read, but if you're tight on time, there's a 15-second TL;DR at the bottom 👇

📱 From the Feed

What we posted on our socials this week:

🍻 JUBEL, the fruit beer brand mixing with mango & peach, is smashing their brand activations. From buses in central London to events on planes, they’re leaning into fun, Gen-Z trends. We looked at what makes their brand work and what others can learn → read here

💪 Protein, protein, protein.  Have you also noticed that protein products seem to be dominating the market? It’s everywhere from cereal to soft drinks. We dug into what’s behind the boom and some brands that are doing it well → read here

👀 ICYMI: Brand Moves Worth Watching

 🤝 JUBEL x Wildfarmed. Wildfarmed grows regenerative wheat, Jubel brews beer with fruit, and now they’ve teamed up for a great synergy. They can both benefit from increased brand awareness and access each other's audiences, further strengthening each of their brand’s credibility. It’s a good reminder, collabs can also be along the supply chain. 

🧀 All The Aunties, a paneer brand you’ve maybe spotted on your FYP, has bagged listings in both Whole Foods and Bayley & Sage, within weeks of launch. Their vibrant branding, founder-led content and innovation in a much needed category has led to a recipe of success. We think they’re one to watch.

💸 Valerie, a perimenopause supplement, has raised £514k in pre-seed funding, from mostly angel investors with 45% female participation. It’s a useful reminder that angels are still an underrated route for early-stage brands, especially when paired with community-focused messaging and product-market alignment.

📌 The Noticeboard

Your weekly list of things to check out:

📣 Events

🎟️ Bread & Jam Festival (15–16 July): Founders from ethnically diverse backgrounds can enter to win free tickets via this link. A great chance to connect, pitch, and learn from the best in UK food & drink.

🚀 FEBE 100 x Virgin: New partnership just dropped. What does it mean? More support, more spotlight, and more scale-up potential for fast-growing businesses. If your startup is doing £3m–£200m and still founder-led, you can still apply to Growth 100 → Apply here

📚 Read/Listen

Rory Sutherland: An industry legend and behavioural science advocate. If you’re trying to build customer habits, his takes on why people really buy things will help you learn about human behaviour and how businesses can use it to their advantage. 

→ Know a good opportunity, event or open collaboration? Hit reply to let us know and it could be featured 👀

🧠 TL;DR: This Week’s Takeaways

🔍 Smart brand collabs are still going strong. When they’re done right, they’re more than just PR. Shared values, shared audiences and synergies.

💷 Angel investing is powerful. Especially when it comes with aligned values and supportive networks.

🥣 Don’t sleep on niche categories. Some of the biggest wins we’re seeing are in under-hyped spaces that are due a bit of disruption.

Thanks for reading this week’s edition! As mentioned, check out our LinkedIn for more regular updates.

👂 We’d love to hear your feedback, hit reply and tell us what you’re enjoying, or what you’d like to see more of.

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