What if choosing plant-based food didn’t feel like a compromise, but simply meant choosing something delicious? That question lies at the heart of WAUW!, a Norwegian-Danish food company building a taste-first food platform around products people want to buy again and again.
Since launching up to eight products in NorgesGruppen in week 12 of 2026, WAUW! became and has maintained its position as the group’s best-selling frozen plant-based brand within 17 weeks, without paid marketing. Following a national launch of two products across REMA 1000, it reached a 25.2% category share in its second full sales week.
In this interview, Gabrielle Meyer, Marketing Manager at ProVeg Incubator, speaks with Toke Nygaard Fonsbol, CEO and co-founder of WAUW!, about the brand’s thinking, its early commercial success, and how the Fast-track To Impact program is helping the team prepare for its next stage of growth.
Making plant-based food people want to eat again
Toke and his co-founder, Richard Nystad, founded WAUW! after identifying a persistent gap in the plant-based food market. Despite advances in technology, growing investment, and an expanding range of products, they felt the category still wasn’t consistently delivering on what matters most to consumers: the eating experience.
“Too often the consumer was still being asked to compromise on taste, texture, convenience or value,” Toke explains.
For the founders, that was more than a product-development challenge. It was a barrier to wider adoption. If plant-based food mainly appeals to people who have already decided to eat plant-based, its potential to change the food system remains limited.
Their mission is therefore straightforward: make plant-based food so delicious that choosing it feels easy.
Rather than building the business around a single protein technology or manufacturing process, WAUW! operates as a product and brand platform. It works with specialist producers, identifies promising products and technologies, and co-develops products to meet its standards for taste, texture, nutrition, and price.
This flexible model lets the company choose different solutions for different product categories without investing in its own large-scale production infrastructure.
From a Norwegian launch to leading the frozen plant-based category
WAUW!’s early performance in Norway suggests that this consumer-first approach is gaining traction.
Within 17 weeks of launching up to eight products in NorgesGruppen, WAUW! became and remains its best-selling frozen plant-based brand. After launching two products nationally across REMA 1000, it achieved a 25.2% category share in its second full sales week, establishing a significant presence across retailers representing roughly two-thirds of Norway’s grocery market.
Together, the two grocery groups represent roughly two-thirds of the Norwegian grocery market, giving WAUW! a significant retail footprint in its first market.
There is another encouraging signal, since WAUW! entered NorgesGruppen, the frozen plant-based category has grown by approximately 20%. WAUW! now accounts for 33% of total category sales, meaning that one-third of all sales in the category come from a brand that did not exist in the market before week 12 of 2026.
This makes WAUW! the primary measurable driver of the category’s return to growth. The brand has not simply taken market share. It has helped turn a declining category into a growing one.
“We are not only taking market share. WAUW! has helped turn a declining category into a growing one,” Toke says.
At SIAL Paris, WAUW! attracted strong interest from buyers, distributors, and major European retailers, generating 62 commercial leads, including 12 priority opportunities. This has led to ongoing discussions with Intermarché about bringing WAUW! to France, with buyers praising the brand, taste, and product quality compared with existing alternatives.
What Fast-track To Impact helped WAUW! prioritize
As WAUW!’s commercial opportunities expanded, the challenge shifted. The question was no longer simply where the company could grow, but which opportunities deserved its limited time and capital.
The Fast-track To Impact program came at a crucial point in that journey. With opportunities emerging across retail, foodservice, product development, and international markets, the team needed to choose where to focus.
Working with mentors, including Andre Menezes and Marc Violo, helped WAUW! challenge assumptions, establish clearer priorities through objectives and key results (OKRs), and build on the commercial traction it had already achieved.
One key conclusion was to focus on the Nordic markets and France, expanding selectively, one market at a time. Norway provides a strong commercial proof point, and the team wants to use that momentum to develop opportunities in Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and Iceland, while pursuing France as its priority market outside the Nordics.
The team is approaching each opportunity selectively, looking for a strong fit between the product, customer, and route to market. France stands out following the response at SIAL, while active opportunities in the Nordics can build directly on WAUW!’s proven Norwegian model.
The program also strengthened the company’s preparation for SIAL and opened conversations with potential customers and partners. Just as importantly, it brought in experienced people who could challenge decisions on commercial strategy, foodservice, product development, and expansion.
His advice to other founders considering Fast-track To Impact is to apply with an open mind and be ready to act on feedback. He says the value comes not from being told exactly what to do, but from having experienced people challenge your thinking and help you make sharper decisions.
Raising €500,000 to bring WAUW! to new markets
WAUW! has built its business with a lean operating model, without previous external equity investment, and has reached positive cash flow. The new round is not to finance ongoing losses. It is to accelerate international expansion.
The company is raising €500,000 to build its international sales capability and accelerate focused expansion into selected European markets through the right local partners.
The immediate geographic focus is the Nordics and France. Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and Iceland offer opportunities to build on the proven Norwegian model, while France has become the priority market outside the Nordics following the strong response to WAUW! at SIAL Paris.
Rather than building factories or a large fixed-cost organization, WAUW! intends to maintain its asset-light model and use its funding to move quickly when the right retail opportunities arise.
The company is also seeking an investor who can add strategic value beyond capital. Relevant experience in grocery retail, distribution, foodservice, and international market entry would help the team identify local partners and turn buyer interest into successful launches.
“We are not looking for capital alone,” Toke explains. “The ideal investor brings more than capital. They bring international retail experience, relevant connections, and the ability to help us turn strong commercial interest into successful, scalable market entries.”
The strategy is ambitious but selective: establish a strong position in the Nordics, pursue France where the opportunity is clear, and expand further when the right partnerships are in place.
The next chapter for WAUW!
WAUW!’s rapid progress in Norway gives the company a strong starting point, with established retail distribution, promising product performance, and growing international interest.
The next phase will focus on turning that early traction into sustainable growth: strengthening its Nordic presence, entering selected markets with the right partners, and maintaining the lean model that has gotten it this far.
For Toke, the goal is clear. Sustainable food should not require consumers to compromise on taste, affordability, or convenience. The better choice should also be the one they genuinely want to eat.
And when the journey gets difficult, he returns to a simple mindset:
“I never take no for an answer. A no is always a maybe, and we keep going until we win the customer, one fair taste test and one delicious product at a time.”
Selected to Pitch at ProVeg Incubator Demo Day
WAUW! was selected to pitch at the ProVeg Incubator Demo Day following its participation in Cohort 2 of the Fast-track To Impact program.
ProVeg Incubator Demo Day will take place at The New Food Paradigm 2026, hosted by ShakeUp Factory.
