Things I need right now: $4.6 million.
Things I don't have right now: $4.6 million.
Things Emma Chamberlain just secured in funding for her DTC coffee brand: $4.6 million.
LORD, I see the things you be doing for others....😆
All jokes aside, Emma is one clever lady. Over the last four years, she's utilised her audience to build a thriving coffee brand.
Direct-to-consumer sales in the US are forecasted to reach $212.9 billion in 2024. So it's no surprise that there's been no shortage of influencer-founded DTC brands in the last few years.
Let's be real, they're popping up quicker than celebs on Ozempic.
From Kylie Jenner to the D'Amelio sisters, influencers are converting their fame into lucrative business opportunities. And it makes total sense. The brands they build grow their following. This directs customers to their brand. And so-on and so forth.
A feedback loop for hot, wealthy, young people to continue being hot, wealthy, and young, if you will.
They're cutting out the middleman and engaging with their audience directly.
But not all that glitters is gold. We've mentioned before how brands like Prime Hydration and Feastables started off strong and quickly withered away.
Not Chamberlain though. She aims to raise a total of $7 million in the latest round of funding, according to a securities filing Wednesday.
She understands how to create a personal connection with her audience.
As a creator, Chamberlain gained popularity due to her conversational style of video editing. The New York Times wrote that she, "Invented the way people talk on YouTube now, particularly the way they communicate authenticity.'
Her vlogs always included her daily cups of coffee. So when she launched Chamberlain Coffee, it felt like a natural extension of her brand.
Her love of cold brew perfectly aligns with Gen-Z's unnatural obsession with coffee. Since Gen-Z's her target audience, and they watched her drink her coffee every day, the product made perfect sense.
Her brand has its own social media presence.
