Steeped Coffee Launches Investment Campaign with $5 Million Goal

Steeped coffee manufactures and sells packages of individual teabag-like bags of coffee for immersion brewing of single cups. All images courtesy of Steeped Coffee.

Following an investment campaign that netted more than $5 million in 2022, single-serve coffee product maker Steeped Coffee is returning to the crowdfunding platform Republic for another round.

Steeped’s core products involve small individual bags of ground coffee that are combined with water for a teabag-like immersion, resulting in individual cups of brewed coffee.

Through the Republic platform, California-based Steeped is opening investment opportunities to the general public, offering a type of SAFE (short for “simple agreement for future equity”) for relatively small investments.

The company’s current fundraising campaign allows for minimum investments of $100, up to a maximum of $25,000. In exchange, investors receive Republic’s proprietarily named “Crowd SAFE,” which allows for the conversion of investments into equity of the company should specific “trigger” events happen, such as the company’s acquisition or an IPO, according to the platform.

In 2022, Steeped raised $5 million through the platform from 4,800 participants. In a public announcement today, the company said those funds were used to “make significant improvements to the business to help prepare for growth as it approaches its planned Series A round in the second half of 2024.”

“After making key leadership hires, and transitioning operations in 2023 to increase margins, reduce operational overhead costs, and sharpen its focus on the most productive revenue streams, the company is in a position to use its next 2024 Republic campaign funding to scale up in the coming years by investing in sales and marketing,” the company said. 

Since DCN first reported on Steeped following its launch in 2017, the company founded by Josh Wilbur has gone on to achieve B Corp status while winning numerous product innovation awards, including a “Best New Product” award at the 2019 Specialty Coffee Expo.

Steeped continues to pitch its products as a more sustainable alternative to popular single-serve options that typically require plastic or aluminum, such as many K Cups or Nespresso-compatible pods.

The Steeped coffee bags use a commercially compostable plant-based material, while the individual packs housing the bags are also fully compostable. Cartons that house the individual packs are fully recyclable and composed of 100% recycled material.

Steeped Coffee Founder and CEO Josh Wilbur.

While selling cartons of the single-serve packages to consumers under its own name, Steeped has also partnered with more than 400 coffee roasting brands for manufacturing of their branded products. The company said it has also begun introducing products for the hospitality industry.

In today’s announcement of its newest fundraising effort, the company wrote, “This next round of crowdfunding aims to further fuel the company’s mission to make premium coffee accessible to anyone, anywhere, without the need for machines or the environmental impact of traditional pods.”

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