The new Blank Street Location in Studio City, Los Angeles. Daily Coffee News photo.
New York-born coffee and matcha chain Blank Street has closed an approximately $105 million equity deal, including $75 million in new financing, as it begins expanding onto the West Coast.
An Aug. 24 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission lists a total offering of $104,999,981, all of which had been sold to six investors. The filing lists Aug. 7 as the date of the first sale. The filing does not identify the investors.
Axios reported that investment firm General Atlantic led the deal, which included $75 million in new capital for Blank Street and $30 million in secondary transactions for existing shareholders. The Financial Times previously reported the $75 million investment, placing Blank Street’s valuation at approximately $650 million.
The financing comes as Blank Street begins a long-planned push into California. The company opened its first shop in Los Angeles Aug. 12 in Studio City. A local source told DCN that days after the store opened, a line stretched “down the street” despite 103-degree heat.
Openings are also planned in Beverly Hills, West Hollywood and Malibu. The Studio City cafe is Blank Street’s 106th worldwide, with locations in markets including New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., and cities across the U.K.
Founded by Vinay Menda and Issam Freiha in Brooklyn in 2020, Blank Street has grown rapidly through a small-format store model focused on quick service, while pushing matcha to the foreground of its drink menu.
The company closed a $25 million Series A funding round in 2021. A March 2023 SEC filing showed the company had sold approximately $26.8 million in equity as part of a larger financing round.
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Nick Brown
Nick Brown is the editor of Daily Coffee News by Roast Magazine.
