LGBTQ+-owned speciality coffee company Explorer Cold Brew has raised $1.5 million in seed funding.
The capital will enable the company to expand its custom at-home coffee offering and enhancing its ecommerce platform to reach a wider audience.
Explorer Cold Brew offers a 1:4 ratio cold brew concentrate that comes in various caffeine strengths.
“This fundraise is an exciting reflection of the strong response we’ve seen from our coffee and the great growth potential of our business,” said Explorer founder Cason Crane. “I’m thrilled to have such amazing partners on board the Explorer team to help us offer our elevated, custom coffee experience to even more homes across America.”
He continued: “Our unique approach to the at-home coffee experience is clearly resonating with our community, and people are loving that they can choose their caffeine level and make whatever gourmet coffee drink they want at home, instead of driving to Starbucks”.
Crane was also the first openly LGBT person to scale the Seven Summits (the highest mountain on each continent), bringing the pride flag to the summit of Mount Everest in 2013, according to a company statement. He set up Explorer during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The seed round was led by consumer fund NewBound VC, with other investors including Jordan Fliegel, Jeremy Levine, and Chris Quinn’s angel syndicate Founders First and LGBT angel syndicate Gaingels, among many others.
Michael Hoffman, co-founder and managing partner of NewBound VC, commented: “We are incredibly excited to partner with Cason and Explorer Cold Brew. In addition to superior product quality, taste, and versatility, we believe Explorer is uniquely positioned to benefit from changing consumer preferences in the coffee and tea industries. Cason’s personal brand and dedication to the company provides further wind in the sails for this exciting opportunity to change the way people consume coffee and caffeine.”
© FoodBev Media Ltd 2024