Nutrinnovator was set up last year by a team of former executives from GlaxoSmithKline's nutritional division. Last year it launched its first product, the Altu cereal bar, which is now available in many of the UK's supermarkets, including Waitrose and Sainsbury.

A £2.5 million placing on AIM, the London Stock Exchange's market for smaller companies, will fund the introduction of new products such as a drink being launched this summer, reports the Financial Times.

Cereal bars were initially heralded as a convenient and tasty health food but it has been increasingly found that many contain high quantities of fat and sugar, which countered the health benefits offered by their high fibre content.

The Nutrinnovator team claims that each of the bars in the Altu range contain all the five food groups that nutritionists recommend we eat each day.

Western Europe's cereal bars market is 'massively underexploited', according to a report last year from market research analysts Datamonitor.The product accounts for only 5 per cent of confectionery sales in some markets and yet confectionery overall is currently reaching saturation - in Western Europe annual growth has slowed to around 2.5 per cent.