Consumer tastes are constantly changing, but one thing is certain: people are looking for healthier food options, including their favorite comfort foods.
Ramen is often a pantry staple and jokingly known as the food of choice for college students and young entrepreneurs, but the market potential is huge. The market value of the global instant noodle sector in 2020 is about $46 billion and will reach about $66 billion by the end of 2027.
That’s where immi comes in. Two years ago, when the company secured his $3.8 million in seed funding, we outlined the company. Kevin Lee and Kevin Chanthasiriphan founded the company to carve a niche in this big market and introduce low-carb, high-protein, plant-based instant noodles.
“We’re still keeping our heads down and really focused on the ramen space,” Lee said in an interview. , the plant-based value proposition segment still has no competitors.
Online demand for immi’s products has not slowed either. This is one of the reasons why Lee and Chanthasiriphan are eager to start the next phase of their business.
Immi co-founders Kevin Lee and Kevin Chanthasiriphan Image credit: Imi
Today, immi still has three original plant-based flavors: spicy ‘beef’, tom yum flavored ‘shrimp’ and black garlic ‘chicken’. But his new $10 million Series A round of funding puts the company on track to launch nine more flavors, round out its management team, and expand its reach to retailers nationwide. .
Touch Capital led the recently closed round with participation from a number of notable investors including Naomi Osaka, Usher, Apolo Ohno, David Grutman, Kygo’s Palm Tree Crew and Gryffin. Immi has now raised about $15 million in total funding, and Lee reveals a “substantial” increase in valuation over his seed round.
Other investors participating in the Series A include Siddhi Capital, Gold House Ventures, Anti VC, Harizury, Lab Capital Advisors, CAA Co-Head of Basketball, Lynja, Lauren Kleinman (Dreamday, The Quality Edit), Includes Theresa Kang (Blue Marble Pictures). , and CEO or co-founder of Fly By Jing, Bokksu, Boba Guys, LMNT, OWYN, Hero Cosmetics, Supply, Rumble Boxing, Worlds, Venice Music, Adgile Media Group, Hyphen Capital.
Since 2021, Immi has more than six times more revenue year-over-year and has sold out seven times. In 2022, retailers such as Whole Foods, Wegmans and The Fresh Market will be selling it. Additional locations are set to open this year, according to the founders.
In 2021, the company will have a private tasting community of around 4,000 people, increasing that number to 6,000. In addition to preferences, the community provides founders with direct feedback on which retailers they would like to launch the next immi. Lee says this is valuable information and often helps the company better market to retailers because it proves the size of its future customer base.
Following that rapid growth, the company began attracting inbound investor attention in the third quarter of 2022, from both existing and new investors, Lee said.
“Especially after seeing some early Whole Foods data, there were so many opportunities on the horizon to build teams, improve our products, and even start retailing that we decided to make this $10 million. “We had great velocity right out of the gate because of our direct-to-consumer audience and the retail demand of people who come across bright yellow packaging.”
As previously mentioned, part of the new capital will be invested in product development research. Chanthasiriphan gave no hint as to what the nine new flavors will be like, but immi specializes in less common flavors. , celebrities, film studios.
In addition to that, there are another 12 flavors the company is currently “batting” to see which flavors should be prioritized. We are also considering products other than ramen.
“There are a lot of unique partnership opportunities to launch them,” Chanthasiriphan said in an interview. “We are also making noodle improvements in our pipeline related to texture, noodle cooking time, and formats such as cups.”
