Vancouver-based organic food brand Blume has closed $2 million CAD in what it calls an oversubscribed seed round, as the company said it originally set out to raise $1.25 million.
This round, which closed in the last week of June and is a SAFE, marks Blume’s first institutional raise after being bootstrapped since its inception.
“There was nothing on the café menu that tasted great and actually did something good for your body.”
– Karen Danudjaja, Blume co-founder
Closed within a five-week period, according to Blume, the round was led by Fulmer & Co. and received participation from Judy Brooks, executive chair of confectionary company SmartSweets; Ethan Song, co-founder and former CEO of clothing brand Frank and Oak; Jerin Mece, a shareholder and former head of sales of Nude Beverages; Mike Fata, founder of Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods; as well as The51.
Co-founded by Karen Danudjaja and Ella Dalling in 2017, Blume offers a coffee replacement product line that remakes the traditional lattes with superfoods. The company touts its offering as locally made, and with 100 percent natural and organic ingredients such as turmeric, reishi, and others.
Coming from a background in commercial realty, Danudjaja said that her previous work culture was built around coffee meetings. With the drinks made from espresso and syrups, she said that it began to affect her digestion, sleep, and hormonal balance.
“There was nothing on the café menu that tasted great and actually did something good for your body,” she said. “That’s where Blume was born. A simple way to enhance your daily rituals with lattes.”
Over the past year, Blume said that it has scaled its team to 12 employees and has landed in all Whole Food locations across Canada.
Retailing in over 1,500 stores nationwide, Blume’s products are also available in Well.ca, Anthropologie, and Indigo.
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Danudjaja said that she is proud of Blume’s bootstrapped story, as it forced the startup to “be scrappy, move quickly, and get the fundamentals right.”
“Now we are excited to strategically utilize this new capital to further Blume’s momentum in the market and build a company that is value-driven and focused on the needs and wants of our community,” she added.
With its first institutional raise, Blume intends to focus on growing strategic retail partnerships in the Pacific North West and West Coast in the United States (US) market, scale its team, and host in-person, community building events. A spokesperson for Blume told BetaKit that the company is currently recruiting for three positions.
In its mission to offset its use of plastic, Blume has also partnered with waste collection platform CleanHub, as well as waste management company Green Worms to help divert twice the amount of plastic that Blume creates from entering oceans. For its environmental goals, Blume plans to collect 7,000 pounds of plastic waste.
Featured image from Blume’s website.