Heilala’s mission is to create thriving and happy communities in the Pacific, supporting families through vanilla farming. Heilala Vanilla has a fully integrated supply chain with a growing base in the Kingdom of Tonga and manufacturing and marketing base in Tauranga, New Zealand. The premium branded Heilala Vanilla products are sold into retail, food Service and food manufacturing segments in a number of markets including New Zealand, Australia and the United States with strong growth coming from the USA online channel. 

Enterprise Angels first invested directly into Heilala Vanilla in 2012 and have made subsequent investments including through the EA Fund 2 portfolio in 2017. 

COVID-19 and the scarcity of hand sanitiser brought a new opportunity for Heilala Vanilla. Their best-selling vanilla extract had some properties in common with sanitiser (ethanol, glycerine), so they launched their own brand of sanitiser which took off and a line of handwashes, dishwashes and surface sprays soon followed. They also have launched a skincare line drawing on the anti-ageing properties of vanilla.

Click here to read their latest impact progress report.