CARLSBAD, Calif.– KonaRed, maker of premium Hawaiian coffee products, today announced the successful close of a $3.5 million round of equity and debt financing, led by Venice Brands. Other parties in the round include Spiral Sun Ventures, Decathlon Capital and friends and family.
“KonaRed has had an exciting year in 2018, during which we brought our coffee production in-house with a world class roasting machine and staff. This enables us to deliver the highest quality, small batch roasted Kona coffee available. On top of that, we gained distribution for our RTD cold brew coffee line in key new retailers including Sprouts, Publix, Walgreens, Meijer and Giant Food last year to help us grow sales over 25 percent YOY,” said Kyle Redfield, CEO. “Next year will be an even bigger year for the company, and we are gearing up to ensure we have the capital we need to support our growth.”
In addition to bringing coffee roasting into its own state-of-the-art facility, KonaRed launched a new line of premium Kona Blend single serve cups earlier this year. The 12-count single serve cups are available in medium and dark roasts. Sales began online on KonaRed’s website and Amazon.com, but plans are in place to launch these into grocery retailers. Additionally, KonaRed recently completed a full update on the packaging design for its bagged coffee, which will also be sold into the grocery channel.
The new round of capital will be put towards continuing to expand the KonaRed team to ensure strong cross-functional support across the company and to successfully grown and launch new products in 2019.
About KonaRed
Grown on the Big Island of Hawaii in the Kona coffee belt, 2,400 miles from the nearest continent, KonaRed’s ultra-premium coffee begins with the finest seeds, the highest-quality soil, the purest water and the cleanest air on the planet. On this tropical oasis, the brand’s farmers take pride in growing and harvesting what is widely regarded as some of the best coffee you can find anywhere on Earth. These coffee beans and the nutrient-rich fruit that surrounds them serve as the foundation of all of KonaRed’s premium coffee products. Offering a variety of deliciously smooth ready to-drink cold brew coffees, coffee beans, cascara (coffee fruit) juice and syrup, all KonaRed products are made with all natural and GMO-free ingredients, with several products containing gluten-free and vegan ingredients. For more information, please visit KonaRed.com.
About Venice Brands
Based in Southern California, Venice Brands seeks to build category leaders in the consumer goods space, primarily food, beverage and wellness. An experienced team of leaders and functional experts who have spent years finding, investing in, and building successful consumer brands, Venice Brands helps its partner brands scale by providing very hands-on strategic, operating, and financial resources. Learn more at VeniceBrands.com.
About Spiral Sun Ventures
Spiral Sun Ventures is a Chicago-based venture capital fund that invests in high quality people and companies making more natural and healthy consumer products. We invest at an earlier stage than most when our team and ecosystem of partners and advisors can value to a company. As a result, we expect to earn above-market returns for our investors. To learn more about Spiral Sun’s investment strategy, portfolio and mission to improve health and wellness through better consumer products, go to spiralsunventures.com.
About Decathlon Capital Partners
Decathlon Capital Partners provides growth capital for companies seeking alternatives to traditional equity investment. Through the use of highly customized revenue-based financing solutions, Decathlon provides long-term growth capital without the dilution, loss of control and operational overhead that often comes with equity-based funding. With offices in Palo Alto and Park City, Decathlon is the largest revenue-based funding investor in the U.S. and is active across a wide range of sectors. Learn more at decathloncapital.com.