Rob’s Backstage Popcorn Raises $7M, Spins Out As Stand Alone Brand
Celebrity-backed Rob’s Backstage Popcorn announced the closing of a $7 million funding round today led by the VC firm of DJ and music producer Kygo, known as the Palm Tree Crew. The Hershey Company, UTA Ventures and celebrities including Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Ryan Tedder, David Grutman, Mindy Kaling, Joe Haden and Glen Powell also participated in the round.
In conjunction with the fundraise, Rob’s has been spun out as its own company, previously a sub brand of The Naked Market, a platform company of snack brands. Going forward, Naked Market will continue to manage Rob’s operations, sales, marketing and production with the platform’s company’s CEO Harrison Frugman and COO Alex Kost serving double duty in the same roles at Rob’s.
“With the brand’s rapid retail expansion we felt it was the appropriate time to spin Rob’s out and start putting dedicated resources and partners behind it,” Frugman told NOSH.
According to Kost, the two-year-old popcorn brand will put the new capital towards continuing to scale in retail, hire additional team members and create viral marketing campaigns.
“It’s been such a journey to see Rob’s Backstage Popcorn grow over the past few years and I’m thrilled for the upward trajectory to continue,” said Nick Jonas, co-founder of Rob’s Backstage Popcorn, in a press release. “It’s also exciting to bring even more close friends and family members into the fold, including my wife, Priyanka.”
Rob’s Backstage Popcorn currently sells three flavors including Original Sweet & Salty, Kelly’s Classic BBQ (developed alongside singer Kelly Clarkson) and Priyanka’s Mumbai Nights. The popcorn is currently available at over 8,000 stores nationwide including Walmart, Kroger, Albertsons and Sam’s Club, among others and sells for about $5.99 per 4 oz. bag.
As the brand looks to continue driving growth in retail, it intends to tap into its investor base for creative brand activations, “non-traditional marketing initiatives” and new flavor innovations. Earlier this month, the brand unveiled its newest SKU, Mumbai Nights, during Natural Products Expo West, created in partnership with Priyanka Chopra Jonas, an investor and the wife of Nick Jonas.
“Our focus on building our investor base was to surround ourselves with partners who have expertise in scaling national and global consumer brands across a variety of industries and leverage their relevant experiences appropriately,” said Kost. “One special thing about our partners is the long-standing relationships they’ve had with either the Brothers or [The Naked Market]. That’s enabled us to work uniquely with them on things like flavor collaborations or create special consumer experiences.”
Those investment dollars have already been allocated for upcoming marketing initiatives including a Tesla giveaway live on The Kelly Clarkson Show, continued brand activations at Jonas Brothers concerts, product donations and free grocery sweepstake competitions.
As the brand continues to scale, Kost said Rob’s will focus on becoming the number one popcorn brand in the U.S. The brand intends to continue to target innovation in that set and extend the brand via new flavor combinations.
“While we’re constantly creatively bouncing ideas off of one another and doing flavor experimentations — for now we’re excited for the opportunity to innovate in the popcorn category.” said Kost. “And as we do so, we will focus on building a healthy business that has Rob’s positioned to be a household brand for decades to come.”
According to recent Circana data (formerly IRI), the ready-to-eat popcorn market grew to over $2 billion in total dollar sales for the 52-week period ending February 26, 2023. Current category leaders include SmartFood, SkinnyPop and Angie’s Boomchickapop, while newcomers like Lesser Evil are beginning to gain traction, breaking into the top ten sellers in terms of total dollar sales.
The category grew 14%, on par with the growth rate of the broader salty snack set (15.8%), and remains largely controlled by conventional players including Frito Lay (owner of SmartFood), Conagra Brands (the acquirer of Angie’s) and UTZ (UTZ and the acquirer of In Good Health) and The Hershey Company (the acquirer of SkinnyPop).
