Soupergirl owner Sara Polon has secured $2 million in her first external raise, 12 years after starting her vegan soup company and about six months after setting out to raise this capital — all while shifting the business model and pushing into the next stage.
The Series A round, which closed Sept. 18, was led by Chevy Chase-based Arborview Capital, with participation from two big names in local business: Honest Tea founder and Beyond Meat board member Seth Goldman, a mentor of Polon’s for about a decade; and Danielle Vogel, founder of Glen’s Garden Market, where Polon has sold her soups.
Covid forces a revamped business model
After preparing for this round in early 2020, “[we] just had to start over,” Polon, co-founder and CEO of D.C.’s Soupergirl said of the pandemic's impact on her business. “So it was just a reimagination of the business and what it was going to look like.”
It looks like this:
- Growing the direct-to-consumer business, which includes selling a soup subscription service or soup a la carte on the Soupergirl website, as well as at its brick-and-mortar location in Takoma Park. That happens by improving the user experience, expanding its reach and adding new product offerings.
- Growing the grocery business, which includes shelf space in Whole Foods Market, Wegmans, Giant Food, Costco and others. That happens by hiring people to help reach new customers and work on marketing collateral at the supermarket.
“It’s a whole new world out there,” Polon said. “People aren’t shopping for themselves, they’re sending Instacart shoppers; if they are going, they have their heads down and they’re looking at their lists and not browsing.”
So the funding will help fuel digital marketing and strategy, in addition to more safety protocols in the face of coronavirus.
“One of the things we struggled with, to be honest, is properly communicating our brand — who we are, what we’re trying to do,” Polon said. “And that’s so important as we grow, especially now as consumers are looking to get behind values-focused brands that stand for something — and we believe we’re in that category, we just struggled with letting people know.”
Expanding
The new funding will also enable Soupergirl to expand into a larger facility. The company has outgrown its current 5,000 square feet and is looking to move into at least 12,000 square feet with more refrigeration, storage and cooking capacity, Polon said. She also plans to broaden Soupergirl’s delivery zones locally and continue operating its Takoma Park location, where it’s currently doing curbside pickup. But she’s not planning to reopen the former Dupont Circle store, which closed early in the pandemic.
The 30-person company is now looking to “slowly hire” a few more people, Polon said. “Every dollar we spend needs to add to this business, so we’re not going to go on a hiring spree. What we’re going to do is add to our team people who are going to add value, and then, hopefully, the business revenue will justify further hires.”
Polon, who declined to disclose revenue, has garnered attention in recent years after a 2018 appearance on ABC’s “Shark Tank.” She started the business with her mother, Marilyn, 10 years prior, in 2008. They raised an undisclosed amount of funding from friends and family, and ultimately held off on a seed round at the start of 2019.
Learning
As Soupergirl advances, guidance from its new investors will be critical to its growth; Polon has considered Goldman a mentor since 2011, she said.
“I loved her soup and tried ordering it online, but it was ridiculously inefficient, so I encouraged her to set it up as a service,” Goldman, now co-founder and CEO of Eat the Change and PLNT Burger, wrote in an email to the Washington Business Journal. The subscription has helped the business forecast and manage its cashflow by taking advance payments.
“We’ve stayed in touch as she has grown, and I’ve helped her course-correct a few times as she has weathered the typical growth challenges,” said Goldman, also a DC Inno 2020 Inno on Fire winner. “But I love her persistence and her passion for what she is doing — that is always the most important ingredient, and I am confident she will succeed. My wife, Julie Farkas, and I are happy to be supporting her growth.”
Glenn’s Garden Market, too, has supported Soupergirl through its evolution, along with other local food businesses it has helped grow by selling their products. Vogel, a WBJ 40 Under 40 honoree, started Glen’s back in 2013 after spending time on Capitol Hill as an environmental lawyer. Her locally-sourced organic grocery store is located at 2001 S St. NW in Dupont Circle.
“At Glen’s Garden Market, we grow small businesses along with our own, which includes investing in brilliant women, who are creating delicious food sustainably,” Vogel wrote in an email to the WBJ. “Sara is resilient, creative and deeply dedicated to her mission, and we can’t wait to cheer her on (and buy lots of her soup) as she continues to thrive.”
