In June 2025, Canadian snack manufacturer AWAKE Chocolate announced a funding announcement of CAD $8 million, led by Btomorrow Ventures and BDC Capital.
In the press release from June, the company mentions using the investment round to support its co-manufacturing partnerships, to improve its supply chain efficiency, and to explore further R&D opportunities along with marketing efforts.
Adam Deremo, CEO of AWAKE Chocolate, provided further clarity on the scope of the expanded co-manufacturing partnerships that were announced.
“We currently have two long-term contract manufacturing partners, both based in Quebec,” Adam says. “We’re 100% Canadian-made. Our investments as a result of this funding are mostly in the areas of packing automation. We can speed up the rate at which we pack our products, and can now introduce multi-packs and other offerings.”
“We’re also now able to invest in some incremental depositing equipment. This will open the door to work on flavour innovations with more solid inclusions now possible in our products,” he added.
When the chocolate company leader was queried about his concerns regarding tariffs, he was clear that AWAKE is CUSMA-compliant, meaning that it isn’t currently being hit directly by tariffs, but worries remain nevertheless.
“The situation is one we monitor closely,” says Adam. “AWAKE does about 80% of its sales in the U.S. Any change in the status of packaged food products under the CUSMA agreement would be a real concern for us.”
Adam went on to state that there remains a “lingering or emerging concern” with regards to tariffs on the ingredients side.
AWAKE currently buys chocolate made in Canada, but the cocoa is refined in the U.S. This means that if there are eventually tariffs applied to the cocoa imported to the U.S. from West Africa or other parts of the world, the key ingredient behind AWAKE’s products could be exposed to a pricing difference.
The pricing difference could affect every player in the chocolate market, as so much of the world’s cocoa comes out of West Africa. Sustainability by Numbers, a website by Hannah Ritchie, a researcher at the University of Oxford, shows that nearly two-thirds of the world’s cocoa comes from Ghana and the Ivory Coast.
“The cocoa market is an absolute disaster in terms of pricing,” Adam says. “It’s trading at about three times its historical average price, tracing back to a supply deficit two years ago. If there was further inflation as a result of tariffs tied to cocoa, we would have to look at the best options to offsetting the price increase.”
Adam was also asked about why he thought AWAKE Chocolate received funding now, when so many investors were taking a wait-and-see approach due to the tariff landscape.
“We were able to attract investment because we could demonstrate a track record of hitting our milestones and financial objectives for the last few years. We have a differentiated product in a category that is mature and not growing in volume right now,” he says.
He added that because they’re a caffeinated-chocolate manufacturer, they are delivering functional benefits and thereby creating new consumption occasions in a category that is saturated.
The company was also asked about its R&D efforts in light of the funding announcement.
“We think there are applications for functional benefits that extend beyond caffeine energy. We’ve partnered with Holland College in P.E.I. to do research with category buyers. The deeper we look into it, the more we’re finding that there’s an appetite for functional benefits like mood modulation, improved sleep, gut health and even certain beauty applications.”
Adam expressed confidence that AWAKE could address some of those appetites, with a special focus on relaxation, gut health, and sleep quality products, and a goal to launch these products within 18-24 months.
Questions have been raised about the effectiveness of the ‘Buy Canadian’ movement, not just how successful it’s been, but also how ‘Canadian’ it really is, with many companies possessing global supply chains with footprints elsewhere.
“It’s difficult to isolate the impact of a ‘Buy Canadian’ preference,” Adam says. “But I do think it’s helping. Retail partners have given a lot of attention to companies making products in Canada.”
Adam went on to say that because Canada has a strong global reputation for food quality, export markets have been strongly interested in doing business with AWAKE as well.
For the rest of the year and beyond though, the AWAKE leader says the burning question on his mind is, “How do we grow distribution and awareness across North America?”
Adam and the AWAKE team continue to navigate a volatile market exacerbated by high cocoa prices, causing “millions of dollars of cost inflation” for the Canadian company, and in the meantime, think through countless contingency plans to preserve margins heading into the future.
