Who owns Velo?
Velo is owned by British American Tobacco (the United Kingdom, LSE: BATS), which has owned the brand since 28 November 2019.[1]
Evidence: British American Tobacco p.l.c. Annual Report on Form 20-F filed 2026-02-13, SEC EDGAR, 13 February 2026. Verified from filings; last checked .
Key facts
- Current owner
- British American Tobacco p.l.c. verified
- Owned since
- Owner HQ
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom, London
- Origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- Category
- Tobacco & nicotine › Nicotine alternatives › Nicotine pouches
- Parent ticker
- LSE: BATS NYSE: BTI
- Trademark registrant
- RAI Strategic Holdings, Inc. (USPTO)
- Last verified
- · 2 sources
About Velo
Velo is British American Tobacco's global brand for modern oral nicotine pouches, named on 28 November 2019 as one of the group's three global New Category brands alongside Vuse and glo. BAT reports Velo as its fastest-expanding new-category brand across US and international markets.
What British American Tobacco's annual report says about Velo
Sentences about Velo from British American Tobacco's latest annual filing[1], copied word for word.
Revenue for the category was up 47.4% to 1,165 million in 2025 , largely driven by the successful roll-out of Velo Plus in the U.S. Modern Oral was the fastest growing New Category, with strong volume and value share growth reflecting the strength of our portfolio in all regions.
In 2025, we launched our newest Modern Oral innovation, Velo Shift, offering adult consumers an innovative pouch shape and a new hexagonal can.
How often British American Tobacco names Velo in its annual report
A plain count of the times the name appears in the text of each annual report, not counting the start of a sentence. A brand that an owner writes about more is usually one it treats as central. The brand is named less often than it was three years earlier.
Trademark record for Velo
The USPTO record for the Velo mark lists RAI Strategic Holdings, Inc. as the owner of record (serial number 98784522). A trademark is often held by a group company rather than the listed parent, so the registrant's name can differ from the owner named above.[2]
Ownership timeline of Velo
- 2019 – present British American Tobacco [1] verified
Where Velo sits in British American Tobacco
Controlling ownership as of . Brands grouped under the entity that owns them; large groups are collapsed.
Open the full British American Tobacco ownership tree →
See the full British American Tobacco brand portfolio (11) →
Other brands owned by British American Tobacco
British American Tobacco controls 11 brands on Brandtree, 11 of them in tobacco & nicotine.
Also in tobacco & nicotine
Other brands in nicotine pouches, and who owns them
The 7 brands in nicotine pouches on Brandtree belong to 6 owners. The largest is Turning Point Brands, with 2.
| Brand | Owner | Owner based in |
|---|---|---|
| ALP | Turning Point Brands | 🇺🇸 United States |
| on! | Altria | 🇺🇸 United States |
| Zone | Imperial Brands | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom |
| Nordic Spirit | Japan Tobacco | 🇯🇵 Japan |
| ZYN | Philip Morris International | 🇺🇸 United States |
| FRE | Turning Point Brands | 🇺🇸 United States |
About the owner: British American Tobacco
British American Tobacco is a publicly listed company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, founded in 1902. Brandtree records 11 brands under its control, and it is listed as LSE: BATS and NYSE: BTI.
British American Tobacco was formed in 1902 as a joint venture between the UK's Imperial Tobacco Company and the American Tobacco Company of the United States, with James 'Buck' Duke as its first chairman. It now sells cigarettes and, since 2019, a deliberately built set of global New Category brands (Vuse vapour, glo heated tobacco and Velo modern oral) in the US and internationally. It completed the acquisition of the 57.8% of Reynolds American Inc. it did not already own on 25 July 2017, bringing Reynolds' US brands — Newport, Camel, Pall Mall and Natural American Spirit among them — into the group.
British American Tobacco: full profile, brands and acquisition history →
🇺🇸 Velo and other American brands
Brandtree records a controlling owner for 2,570 brands that began in the United States. 501 of them (19%) are now controlled by a company headquartered in another country, Velo among them.
- ALP — Turning Point Brands 🇺🇸
- Backwoods — Imperial Brands 🇬🇧
- Black & Mild — Altria 🇺🇸
- Camel — Japan Tobacco 🇯🇵
- Captain Black — Scandinavian Tobacco Group 🇩🇰
- Charlie's Chalk Dust — Charlie's Holdings 🇺🇸
Frequently asked questions
Who is the parent company of Velo?
The parent company of Velo is British American Tobacco, a publicly listed company headquartered in the United Kingdom.
Is Velo American or British?
Velo originated in the United States, but it is owned today by British American Tobacco, which is headquartered in the United Kingdom. So Velo is an American-origin brand under British ownership.
Since when has British American Tobacco owned Velo?
British American Tobacco has owned Velo since 28 November 2019.
Is Velo still owned by British American Tobacco?
Yes. As of 29 October 2026, Velo is still owned by British American Tobacco. The ownership record was last checked against primary sources on that date.
Sources (2) & corrections
Last verified . Every ownership fact above is backed by one of these primary documents. Numbers in brackets in the text refer to this list.
- [1] British American Tobacco p.l.c. Annual Report on Form 20-F filed 2026-02-13 — SEC EDGAR, SEC Form 20-F, published 13 February 2026; retrieved 21 September 2026.
- [2] USPTO: VELO, serial 98784522 — United States Patent and Trademark Office, Trademark registry; retrieved 7 October 2026.
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