The Business of Huel: From Two Orders to a 1bn Euro Exit

WEEKEND READ: The Business of Huel, From the garage to a near-€1bn sale after two orders

Huel went from “two orders” and boxes packed in a garage to annual revenues of £254mn and a sale to Danone approaching €1bn. In this article you will understand how a simple product, sold as a “complete food”, became a D2C machine that built community, data and profitability, and why those factors made Huel attractive to a strategic buyer in 2026.

Two orders: origin, founder and first community

On 17 June 2015 Julian Hearn launched Huel; on the first day he registered exactly two orders. He printed the labels, bagged the parcels in the Buckinghamshire garage and took them to the post office. Hearn was not a newcomer: in 2008 he had invested £1,500 in Mash Up Media. By 2011 that venture was generating over £2.5mn in profit and was sold to Internet Brands. After that exit Hearn started Bodyhack, a nutrition project that focused on a practical problem. Measuring meals is easy on paper. In everyday life it often proves impossible. With registered dietitian James Collier he formulated Huel, short for “human fuel”. It is a plant-based powder that combines protein, carbohydrates, fats, fibre and essential vitamins and minerals. It is designed for quick preparation and long shelf life. The first customers, the so-called Hueligans, became a source of feedback and retention.

Huel did not present itself as a simple protein supplement: it positioned itself as a “complete food” and primarily sold time and convenience. This choice placed it in specific use occasions, when preparing a traditional meal was inefficient. The strategy avoided direct shelf competition with big food brands.

The product sold time and convenience.

Two orders and the advantage of D2C

The decision to sell direct-to-consumer allowed Huel to collect transactional data. Direct sales enabled the building of subscriptions and the real-time testing of digital campaigns. Owning the customer relationship meant knowing who buys, what they buy and when they repurchase. This information fed customer lifetime value (CLTV) and helped optimize the LTV/CAC ratio. Highland Europe invested £20mn in 2018 at a valuation of around £220mn. The entry of external capital came after years of bootstrapping.

Direct sales enabled fast subscription growth and testing.

Owning the direct channel turned consumers into a community ready to test variants

Managing the customer directly generates repeatable data: purchase frequency, retention rate and responses to promotions are the hardest capital for a traditional competitor to recreate.

Danone would later point to Huel’s ability in community management and digital marketing as strategic assets that are hard to replicate internally.

Community management became a defensible strategic asset.

When the founder chooses not to be CEO anymore

At the threshold of around £9mn of revenue Julian Hearn decided to avoid the corporate bottleneck. In 2017 he appointed James McMaster chief executive. Hearn focused on founder roles and chief marketing officer duties. The separation between brand identity and operational capability allowed building HR, finance and compliance. This way Huel did not lose the initial vision. After that change revenue rose well above £200mn in a few years. This shows that targeted professionalization can accelerate scale rather than block it.

For incubators and accelerators the lesson is practical: inserting the right manager before processes collapse is a strategic choice, not an admission of defeat.

Replacing the founder’s operational role can unlock rapid growth.

Omnichannel: retail after building digital demand

Huel intentionally stayed online until it consolidated subscriptions and brand equity. Later it introduced formats more comprehensible for retail: ready-to-drink bottles, shelf powders, Black Edition high-protein and Hot & Savoury. In the United States it entered chains like Target, Costco, Whole Foods, GNC and Sprouts. In the United Kingdom revenues grew 26.5% to £139.3mn. In the USA revenues increased 12.4% to £75.4mn. Globally Huel reported more than 600mn meals sold in the first decade. The company was present in over 17,000 retail locations in the United Kingdom and in more than 100,000 distribution points overall. The D2C + retail hybrid allowed Huel to combine physical scale and digital data.

Retail complemented digital demand after consolidation.

Entering retail too early can consume resources and cloud the ability to test

The omnichannel strategy works when retail is overlaid on an already consolidated digital customer base, not when it replaces it.

Capital, profitability and the trajectory to exit

Huel raised external capital with moderation. After the Highland Europe round there were other investments, including those from Idris Elba and Sabrina Dhowre Elba. In the last fiscal year revenues reached £254mn, up 19%. Profit before tax rose 40% to £19.4mn. In March 2026 Danone agreed to acquire Huel for a figure close to €1bn. The UK Competition and Markets Authority cleared the deal in August. Danone gains access to a younger demographic and a growing functional nutrition category. It also acquires established D2C capabilities. Huel gains manufacturing capacity, R&D and distribution channels in more than 120 markets.

For founders and venture capital the combination of scale, profitability and a strong D2C position is the lever that converts strategic interest into real exits.

Profitability together with growth creates attractive strategic exits.

Critique: opportunities, risks and who truly benefits

The acquisition of Huel confirms a pattern we are seeing in Europe. Large groups prefer to buy challengers with community and digital skills rather than build them internally. This creates clear opportunities for startups and scaleups in the innovation ecosystem. Investing in the direct customer relationship, retention and subscription models increases the likelihood of a strategic valuation. For incubators and accelerators in regions like Emilia-Romagna, Modena and Bologna this means focusing training and practical metrics on CLTV, LTV/CAC and recurring revenue structure.

But the risks are real. Integration into a multinational tends to standardize processes. Standardization can slow product decisions. Experimentation on lines like Hot & Savoury could be reduced if production is rationalized. Focus on margins and returns may shift priorities from niche innovations toward higher-volume formats. Additionally, market concentration can reduce the variety of experimentation available to consumers.

Who benefits most? Founders and early investors who retain equity and governance until the right point obtain the most significant exits. Consumers and product teams may lose innovation speed after integration. For policy makers and public funds that support startups (PNRR, Horizon Europe, EIC Accelerator), the Huel case is a reminder. The strategic value of D2C skills and community management deserves structured incentives, not only one-off grants.

Policy makers should consider lasting incentives for D2C capabilities.

Scale and discipline: when the powder is the least of the problems

Huel’s story shows that the product formula is the easiest part to copy. Harder is building community, customer data and a D2C marketing machine that converts attention into recurring revenue. For startups, scaleups, incubators and venture capital in Italy and Europe the roadmap is repeatable. Validate demand and subscription before retail. Measure CLTV and LTV/CAC constantly. Bring in experienced management before complexity slows growth. Danone paid close to €1bn for that set of capabilities. It bought the machine that made the powder monetizable, not the powder itself.

Validating subscription and demand before retail increases the chances of success.

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