Vintage Confections Raises $150,000 to Expand Production

Vintage Confections, a company specializing in custom-made lollipops based in Clarendon Hills, Ill., recently signed a $1.2 million guaranteed purchase order with a large distributor to grow its business. As a result, Vintage Confections outgrew its current production space and needed $150,000 in growth funding to continue to expand. 

Vintage Confections raised funding on Bolstr, a marketplace where emerging consumer, retail and manufacturing businesses can access growth capital from accredited investors. This marks Vintage Confections’ second round of funding through Bolstr. The company first raised capital in 2014, when it needed $30,000 to open its first retail location and expand manufacturing space. Because of rapid sales growth – more than 385 percent in 2014 – the loan was repaid in just eight months. 

“Bolstr gave us the ability to generate money quickly without the trouble of finding qualified investors on our own or dealing with complicated small business loans. The flexibility of the revenue share agreement made Bolstr the perfect way for Vintage Confections to raise money for our new retail location,” said Cheryl Carr, CFO of Vintage Confections. 

In August 2015, Vintage Confections returned to Bolstr and raised $150,000 in just two hours, from the same pair of investors who funded their $30,000 loan. The funding raised will secure a new 14,000-square-foot industrial production space that will meet current production needs and allow for future growth.“Returning to Bolstr to raise a second round of funding was the quickest and easiest way to ensure we would have the funding needed to secure new production space and meet existing and new demand,” continued Carr.

A passion for sweets and creativity led Heather Kelly, founder and CEO, to earn extra money for her growing family offering unique confectionery treats to customers all over the United States via Etsy. In 2010, her custom lollipops landed a feature in Martha Stewart Weddings magazine and the business exploded. She was joined by her sister, current CFO, Carr, to assist with the daily operations after spending eight years at Deloitte.

Inspired by their story, a pair of investors, who also happen to be sisters, decided to fund their first loan of $30,000 together. When Vintage Confections came back to raise their second round of funding, the same pair of investors were quick to fund the new loan, taking just under two hours to finance the $150,000 raise. 

Based in Chicago and founded in 2011 by former investment bankers Charlie Tribbett and Larry Baker, Bolstr is a marketplace where emerging consumer, retail and manufacturing businesses can access growth capital from accredited investors. Every raise on Bolstr uses an innovative revenue share investment structure, where businesses can access $25,000 to $500,000 to invest in growth, retain 100 percent of their equity, and make flexible monthly payouts to investors, since they are sized proportionally to their revenue. Investors then receive revenue-based payouts until they make a multiple back on their investment.