We know that your blender sits in a shelf way up high in your kitchen right next to your gravy server just waiting to be used. But now you may have a good reason to take out your blender everyday! With Green Blender, you will receive the ingredients for ten exotic smoothies (did someone say honeydew cucumber?) to start your day off right. Recently funded, Green Blender seeks to expand their fast growing product to a larger market. CEO Amir Cohen takes us through his exciting product and recent funding.
Who were your investors and how much did you raise? Was it seed, Series A, B, etc?
Green Blender raised $900,000 USD in seed funding from Point Nine Capital, Lukasz Gadowski, and SOS Ventures.
Tell us about your product or service.
Green Blender is a smoothie delivery service. Each week, we send our members pre-portioned ingredients and superfoods to make premium smoothies at home. Our ingredients are organic and local whenever possible. We believe that small, healthy changes can make a huge difference, so we’re making it fun and easy to start your day with a healthy decision.
What inspired you to start the company?
Jenna Tanenbaum and I launched Green Blender shortly after moving in together to our Prospect Heights apartment, in Brooklyn NY. Jenna is an active health and fitness enthusiast, and I.. well not so much. Jenna started making smoothies for breakfast before work and giving me the left-overs. Before we knew it, we were both making smoothies every morning. That’s when we realized that when great ingredients and delicious recipes were easily accessible in our home, it was easy to start our day with a healthy decision. We wanted to bring that experience to as many people as possible.
What market you are targeting and how big is it?
Health is for everyone! Green Blender initially launched in New York City, and now delivers to over 10 states in the Northeast including New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Maine, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia, and Washington DC.
What’s your business model?
Green Blender is a weekly subscription. Each week our members receive 5 original smoothie recipes and all the pre-portioned ingredients to make 10 superfood smoothie servings for $49 with free delivery. You can pause or cancel anytime.
What was the funding process like?
Our fundraising process was distracting and time-consuming. But, it was critical to our early success. It forced us to answer difficult core questions about our business model, our market potential, and the type of company we wanted to build. We’re in a much better position now that we had to define our pitch.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
Our biggest challenge was continuing to work on, and grow our business while putting in the necessary hours to find and connect with the right investors.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
These new funds will provide critical resources for us to ramp up our operation and help further share our company’s mission with others. We have a great product and membership base and we’re working to continue to provide the freshest local smoothie ingredients and recipes to an even wider market.
What advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
The easiest way to raise money is to build your business. Focus on understanding your customer and providing a great solution for the problem you’re solving.
Where is your favorite place to enjoy the summer weather in the area?
I try to visit the Brooklyn waterfront at least once a week. Seeing the scale of the Manhattan skyline, and the downtown bridges remind me that we can build anything if we put our minds to it.
