After a $25 Million Funding Round, Slutty Vegan’s Valuation Hits $100 Million

Slutty Vegan just raised $25 million in a Series A funding round, which, reportedly brings the brand’s total valuation to a whopping $100 million.?

Aisha “Pinky” Cole founded Slutty Vegan, an Atlanta-based plant-based burger chain, four years ago. Since then, the chain has been a roaring success, with 1,000-people-strong queues and A-lister fans, including Tyler Perry and Snoop Dogg.?

Its menu includes a variety of burgers made with Impossible Foods’ beef-like patties. There’s the One Night Stand, for example, which features Slutty Vegan’s signature Slut Sauce, vegan bacon, dairy-free cheese, and more. There’s also the PLT, which includes sweet jerk plantains and Slut Sauce, and the Ménage à Trois, which stars vegan shrimp.

Slutty Vegan’s latest funding round was led by Richelieu Deniss of the New Voices Fund and restauranteur Danny Meyer’s growth fund, Enlightened Hospitality Investments. Per AfroTech, Meyer said of Slutty Vegan: “I had never seen vegan food presented in such a fun way.”

Billion-dollar Slutty Vegan

Meyer’s involvement with Slutty Vegan is significant. He’s the creator of fast casual giant Shake Shack and New York Michelin-starred restaurant The Modern. In the words of Cole, he’s the “Michael Jordan of food.”

Right now, Slutty Vegan has four locations in Georgia. But with the new funding, Cole hopes to expand the chain further afield. She aims to open 10 more Slutty Vegan spots before the end of the year, with another 10 planned for after 2022.

But she’s not stopping there. In the past, Cole has expressed her desire to make Slutty Vegan a billion-dollar brand.

Cole has also founded the Pinky Cole Foundation, which helps young people of color to achieve “their entrepreneurial dreams” with access to training sessions, networking events, and thought leadership.

Regarding Cole’s success and the new investment, Meyer said: “Leaders are often defined by the degree to which people want to follow them, and I saw people following the leader.”

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Written by Charlotte Pointing for Plant Based News