Pinkberry, a Yogurt Vendor, Raises Cash
By MICHAEL J. de la MERCED
Published: October 16, 2007
Can a little pink swirl become as ubiquitous as a certain green mermaid logo?
The founders of Pinkberry, the company known for its sour frozen yogurt with esoteric toppings, apparently think so. The retailer that has inspired almost cultlike devotion will announce today that it has raised $27.5 million in its first round of venture capital.
Leading the financing is Maveron, a venture capital firm founded in 1998 by the Starbucks chairman Howard D. Schultz and Dan Levitan, a former investment banker. Among the firm’s previous investments were eBay, from which it wrung a nearly $148 million gain, and Shutterfly, the online photo-printing site.
The investment is the biggest achievement yet for a two-year-old company whose main offering is a sour — sorry, “tangy” — frozen yogurt that comes in two flavors, plain and green tea.
The store offers a wider variety of toppings, from fresh fruit to nuts to breakfast cereal.
Still, Pinkberry, which promotes itself as a purveyor of healthful snacks, has become a bicoastal urban phenomenon. Blocklong lines often snake outside its 32 stores in Los Angeles and New York, and a spate of competitors has cropped up.
“We’re helping make this scalable,” Mr. Levitan said in an interview yesterday. (He recommends the plain with blueberries and shaved almonds.)
Mr. Levitan said he began receiving phone calls about Pinkberry early last year, including one from Mr. Schultz’s wife, Sherri. He and Mr. Schultz finally met with the founders, Shelly Hwang and Young Lee, in November at a store in Los Angeles.
As part of its investment, Mr. Levitan and Mr. Schultz will sit on Pinkberry’s board.
The goal, Mr. Levitan said, is to lay the groundwork for expanding the franchise, while being mindful of the all-too-brief lifespan of the last frozen-yogurt trend in the late 1980s.
Among the first orders of business are finding a new chief executive and creating an employee stock-option program, ahead of a seemingly inevitable initial public offering.
commentary: http://laist.com/2007/10/16/pinkberry_starfed.php
Published: October 16, 2007
Can a little pink swirl become as ubiquitous as a certain green mermaid logo?
The founders of Pinkberry, the company known for its sour frozen yogurt with esoteric toppings, apparently think so. The retailer that has inspired almost cultlike devotion will announce today that it has raised $27.5 million in its first round of venture capital.
Leading the financing is Maveron, a venture capital firm founded in 1998 by the Starbucks chairman Howard D. Schultz and Dan Levitan, a former investment banker. Among the firm’s previous investments were eBay, from which it wrung a nearly $148 million gain, and Shutterfly, the online photo-printing site.
The investment is the biggest achievement yet for a two-year-old company whose main offering is a sour — sorry, “tangy” — frozen yogurt that comes in two flavors, plain and green tea.
The store offers a wider variety of toppings, from fresh fruit to nuts to breakfast cereal.
Still, Pinkberry, which promotes itself as a purveyor of healthful snacks, has become a bicoastal urban phenomenon. Blocklong lines often snake outside its 32 stores in Los Angeles and New York, and a spate of competitors has cropped up.
“We’re helping make this scalable,” Mr. Levitan said in an interview yesterday. (He recommends the plain with blueberries and shaved almonds.)
Mr. Levitan said he began receiving phone calls about Pinkberry early last year, including one from Mr. Schultz’s wife, Sherri. He and Mr. Schultz finally met with the founders, Shelly Hwang and Young Lee, in November at a store in Los Angeles.
As part of its investment, Mr. Levitan and Mr. Schultz will sit on Pinkberry’s board.
The goal, Mr. Levitan said, is to lay the groundwork for expanding the franchise, while being mindful of the all-too-brief lifespan of the last frozen-yogurt trend in the late 1980s.
Among the first orders of business are finding a new chief executive and creating an employee stock-option program, ahead of a seemingly inevitable initial public offering.
commentary: http://laist.com/2007/10/16/pinkberry_starfed.php
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