{"data":{"type":"company_profile","id":116659,"entity_id":"wefunder:company:116659","attributes":{"canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/cusa","generated_at":"2026-06-22T20:02:25Z","updated_at":"2026-06-22T05:03:34Z","entity_ids":{"company":"wefunder:company:116659","slug":"wefunder:company_slug:cusa"},"profile_visibility":{"owner_published":true,"public_search_results":true,"site_search_listed":true,"privacy_mode":"promote","invite_only":false},"provenance":{"source":"wefunder_public_company_profile","as_of":"2026-06-22T20:02:25Z","claims":{"total_amount_raised":{"source":"FrontCompanySummary#amount_raised","last_verified_at":"2026-06-22T05:03:34Z","as_of":"2026-06-22T20:02:25Z","confidence":"high"},"total_investors":{"source":"FrontCompanySummary#number_of_investors","last_verified_at":"2026-06-22T05:03:34Z","as_of":"2026-06-22T20:02:25Z","confidence":"high"},"active_raise_states":{"source":"Fundraise.visible(nil, nil)","last_verified_at":"2026-05-07T21:42:03Z","as_of":"2026-06-22T20:02:25Z","confidence":"high"},"latest_fundraise_state":{"source":"Fundraise.visible(nil, nil).order(funding_started_at)","last_verified_at":"2026-05-07T21:42:03Z","as_of":"2026-06-22T20:02:25Z","confidence":"medium"}}},"company":{"id":116659,"entity_id":"wefunder:company:116659","slug":"cusa","name":"Cusa Tea and Coffee","tagline":"🔥 The world’s first botanically extracted instant coffee and tea","elevator_pitch":"We invented a radically new way to make delicious and pure tea and coffee using a patented botanical extraction process that happens to be instant. Our technology allows our products to retain all of the flavor, aroma, and beneficial properties of a fresh brew - without any added sugar, artificial flavors or impurities. We sell our products directly to customers, through wholesale, as well as private label. We have really healthy margins and over 80,000 customers. More every day!","story":"We’ve cracked the code on making your favorite coffee or tea instant, without losing any of the flavor, aroma, or beneficial properties of a fresh brew. You read that right — traditional instant coffee and tea taste awful. Burnt, bitter and full of artificial flavorings and sugar. The reason they taste so bad is because the dehydration process literally burns the active ingredients. And then many brands add stuff to make the product come ‘alive’ again. So we changed the game and modified a botanical extraction process in order to maintain the integrity of the original brew. This is the first time anyone has used this process for a food or beverage. There are 30 patents on the technology, protecting us from any competitors who may want to copy our brilliant solution.We’ve sold more than 10 million cups to 80,000 customers without relying on retailers or other intermediaries, yielding healthy margins. We already have over 1,000 monthly subscriptions and new subscriptions are growing 20-30% each month, proving how much people love our products. 55% of them are still with us after 6 months, and more than 40% of our customers order year after year. This is one of the highest retention rates for a food subscription in the industry. It's rare for us to get a negative review, and we have 5,000+ 5-star reviews to-date. Our philosophy is to put our money where our mouth is by providing sample packs to anyone for free (plus a small S\u0026amp;H fee). This program has given rocket fuel to the business. Through hyper-targeted ads, we're acquiring customers for $8-12, yielding on average 2500 - 3000 new sample purchases every month. 42% of these people come back to place another order within 15 days. And since we have such high retention, every new customer incrementally grows the business that much more. On top of that, the average order value is $55, and customers are ordering an average of 5.2x per year, giving us an amazing one year value of $290+. Given our 40% year over year retention rate, the 3 year LTV is well over $600. All for a $8-12 acquisition cost! You can't make amazing coffee and tea with cheap ingredients, so we source only the best. Nothing artificial ever! Our coffee comes from Rainforest Alliance Certified farms using regenerative agriculture farming practices, and our tea is sourced only from Certified Organic farms. We visit the coffee and tea farms 2-3x per year to ensure quality and build relationships with our suppliers. Beyond the coffee and tea, all of the other ingredients are real. You will never see 'natural or artificial flavorings' anywhere on our packaging because we don't believe that they are what anyone should be drinking. We only use real fruit, real spices, and potent herbs. Yes, they cost more, but the taste and health benefits are well worth it!Every ingredient is tested for purity including tests for heavy metals, mold, fungus, and pesticides, AND we publish our results on our website to back up our claims.Once we have the amazing ingredients, we cold brew them under pressure for 6-8 hours. This breaks open the cell walls of the ingredients, perfectly releasing all the goodness they have to offer. At the end of the brewing process, the used ingredients are collected, composted and used as fertilizer back at the tea and coffee farms – all of our ingredients go back to the soil after they are used.To ensure we are the cleanest and healthiest coffee and tea on the planet, we run the liquids through a membrane filtration unit to once again ensure the end product has zero heavy metals, pesticides, mold and fungus. Now the ultra clean coffee or tea goes into our BIG vacuum dehydrator. This machine is filled half way up with the coffee and tea, then zero % humidity air fills the rest of the space. This is where the magic really starts to happen! The water in the coffee and tea gently evaporate into the air above it. Once it hits 40% humidity, we vent that air out and add more zero % humidity air and let the process run again. After 4-5 cycles of this, the coffee or tea has lost all its water and crystallizes. The beauty of the process is that ONLY water evaporates. The amazing taste, aroma and benefits stay within the crystals. So you just need to add hot or cold water and VOILA, you've got a perfectly-brewed, barista quality cup of coffee and tea in seconds!We get a LOT of customers asking how we can taste so different from everything else on the market. It all comes down to science. Before Cusa, there were only two methods for dehydrating beverages: Spray Drying and Freeze Drying. Spray Drying uses 1,000 degree heat to burn/boil off the water in tea and coffee. So if your memory of instant coffee is that it tastes burnt . . . that's because most of it is!The other method is Freeze Drying, which uses extremely cold temperatures to convert the liquid into a gas. These cold temps cause a lot of damage to the coffee and tea, and the end result is something close to freezer-burned food. Our technology is completely different, and avoids the pitfalls of Spray Drying and Freeze Drying, resulting in incredible taste in every cup. And no one else can copy us. Cusa owns the North American rights to our patented process and worldwide rights to any customers that come to us firstWhile instant coffee and tea ($25B and $1.5B markets respectively) were our initial focus, the opportunity to penetrate the total US tea and coffee market is huge. The incredible feedback we’ve gotten on our products makes us confident that we can compete directly with all coffee and tea brands on the market. In many ways, our products are more pure, convenient and delicious. But we’re not stopping there either. We also see a tremendous opportunity to expand to other beverage categories.With our core DTC coffee and tea business working well, we are ready to expand to new beverage categories and to drive growth across all channels. We’re already in 1000 retailers and have 12 private label customers from inbound sources. Many other coffee/tea/beverage brands have asked us to make products for them using our technology. Some of these are very large brands who see our technology as a needed innovation in the industry. Working with Private Label clients allows us to decrease our overall raw material costs, increase brand revenue, and create lasting partnerships that may lead to M\u0026amp;A in the future and an exit for our shareholders.Our current growth rate in DTC and the added business with wholesale and private labels will deliver fast growth over the next 5 years. Cusa has the incredible opportunity not just to grow our brand and product selection, but also to leverage the technology to help grow the category with other industry leaders, giving us multiple revenue streams.We believe the top two reasons people invest in Cusa are:They love Cusa’s brand, products and ethos and want to be part of our story.They’re seeking a return on investmentIn addition, when you invest in Cusa via Wefunder, you get access to some awesome investor perks. Take a look:Invest $250: 25% off coupon code good for 3 ordersInvest $500: 35% off coupon code good for 3 ordersInvest $1,000: 40% off coupon code good for 3 ordersInvest $5,000: 50% off coupon code good for 3 ordersInvest $25,000+: 50% off coupon code good for 6 orders and membership into the Cusa Innovation CouncilWe’re staunch believers that companies should only raise money if they are firmly committed to delivering a return for their investors. The most common way for that to happen in our industry is an acquisition. For example, Liquid IV (who make instant electrolyte beverages) was acquired by Unilever in 2020 for $400M, Blue Bottle Coffee was bought by Nestle for $425M in 2017, and Dutch company Jacobs Douwe Egberts paid 900M EUR to acquire Super Group, a instant tea and coffee manufacturer from Singapore, in 2016. Of course we can’t predict the future and guarantee this will happen to Cusa, but these are examples of acquisitions in our space.Our goal is to grow this company to a point where we are an extremely attractive acquisition target - while staying true to our roots and heritage. A community round is therefore a great fit - we’d love nothing more than for our fans to be investors and grow with us.It all comes down to the investment terms and our commitment to you. Our valuation is extremely competitive in the space. We might even go so far as to call it a steal. Direct-To-Consumer (DTC) businesses such as Cusa are typically valued at 3-6x annual revenue. Similar businesses have even raised crowdfunding rounds at highly inflated valuations of 10x or 11x revenue. Due to overall market conditions, we have chosen to be on the lower side of that range. Our projected 2022 revenue is $2.2 million, so this represents a 3.2x revenue for our current valuation, which we feel is extremely attractive and defensible.We are so thankful for our over 80,000 customers that got us where we are today. We deeply believe in the power of community to help us take the next step for our growth and want you to be part of the journey and get the rewards. Our valuation is extremely competitive in the space. We might even go so far as to call it a steal.We're ready to work hand-in-hand with our community to grow the heck out of the brand in the coming years. We have already seen amazing growth with our bootstrapped budgets and can't wait to see how many consumers we can reach with a little more fuel.","location":"Boulder, CO","website":"https://www.drinkcusa.com/","total_amount_raised":239076,"total_investors":232,"is_funded":true,"is_active":true,"quality_score":5,"related_urls":["https://wefunder.com/cusa","https://www.drinkcusa.com/"]},"media":{"share_image_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company/header_media_photo/116659/xxl_cropped_WeFunder_Thumbnail.jpg","logo_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company/logo/116659/large_cropped_SQ_Cusa_Tea___Coffee_Logo.png","header_media_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company/header_media_photo/116659/standard_cropped_WeFunder_Thumbnail.jpg","cover_photo_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company/header_media_photo/116659/standard_cropped_WeFunder_Thumbnail.jpg","profile_video_url":"https://wefunder.wistia.com/medias/3xjcmt7obz"},"links":{"company_url":"https://www.drinkcusa.com/","facebook_url":"https://www.facebook.com/drinkcusa","instagram_url":"https://www.instagram.com/drinkcusa/"},"highlights":[],"quick_facts":[{"index":1,"claim_id":"claim-fact-1","value":"📈 $2.2M revenue run-rate with 567% DTC growth"},{"index":2,"claim_id":"claim-fact-2","value":"☕️ Over 10M cups sold to 80k customers and counting"},{"index":3,"claim_id":"claim-fact-3","value":"💵 Superb CPG metrics: $55 average order value \u0026amp; $290 annual lifetime value"},{"index":4,"claim_id":"claim-fact-4","value":"💥 Industry-leading retention rate of 40% annually"},{"index":5,"claim_id":"claim-fact-5","value":"🚀 251% annual subscription growth; 1,200+ monthly subscriptions with 55% retention after 6 months"},{"index":6,"claim_id":"claim-fact-6","value":"⭐ 4.7 out of 5 stars average from 5,000+ legitimate reviewers"},{"index":7,"claim_id":"claim-fact-7","value":"🌎 Zero waste warehouse, 100% solar powered manufacturing, 100% sustainable supply chain"},{"index":8,"claim_id":"claim-fact-8","value":"🌱 Certified organic products with zero sugar and no artificial flavors or impurities"}],"team":[{"id":2791856,"entity_id":"wefunder:company_role:2791856","user_entity_id":"wefunder:user:2626216","role":"founder","name":"Jim Lamancusa","title":"Founder and CEO ","bio":"Serial CPG \u0026amp; Outdoor start-up exec. Grew sales from $1M to $75M at Eco-Products as Director of Sales \u0026amp; Employee #3; from $7M to $22M at GoodBelly as VP Sales; and from $4M to $15M at Salewa/Dynafit as Director of Sales \u0026amp; Marketing.","avatar_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company_role/custom_photo/2791856/square_cropped_Jim_headshot.jpg?1672767473","profile_url":"https://wefunder.com/jim.lamancusa","linkedin_url":"https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-lamancusa-a2220317/","related_urls":["https://wefunder.com/jim.lamancusa"]},{"id":2839871,"entity_id":"wefunder:company_role:2839871","user_entity_id":"wefunder:user:2681444","role":"employee","name":"Robin Shelley","title":"Vice President of Marketing","bio":"Digital marketing and e-commerce genius with 16+ years of content management experience. Achieved 4-digit growth in Cusa’s online sales. 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Board Member of 10 CPG companies.","avatar_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company_role/custom_photo/2895740/square_cropped_Alan_Murray.jpg?1658348108","related_urls":[]},{"id":2895741,"entity_id":"wefunder:company_role:2895741","role":"employee","name":"James Cali","title":"Board Member, Advisor ","bio":"General Partner of Next Generation Nutritional Investments, focusing on branded food \u0026amp; beverage, novel ingredients and food tech. Former SVP of Kellogg’s and Mondelez accountable for growth of $6B+ in sales.","avatar_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company_role/custom_photo/2895741/square_cropped_Jim_Cali.jpg?1658429223","related_urls":[]},{"id":2895742,"entity_id":"wefunder:company_role:2895742","user_entity_id":"wefunder:user:2711060","role":"employee","name":"Jay Hirsh","title":"Board Member, Advisor ","bio":"Managing Partner of Breaktrail Ventures focusing on innovative CPG and Tech companies. 3x investor in Cusa Tea and Coffee. Advisor to dozens of emerging brands, heavily skilled in operations planning and inventory management.","avatar_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company_role/custom_photo/2895742/square_cropped_Jay_Hirsh.jpg?1658429238","profile_url":"https://wefunder.com/jay.hirsh","related_urls":["https://wefunder.com/jay.hirsh"]},{"id":2895743,"entity_id":"wefunder:company_role:2895743","role":"employee","name":"Matt Fargo","title":"Board Member, Advisor ","bio":"Managing Partner at Kurtz/Fargo boutique accounting firm. Formerly at PWC and started Kurtz/Fargo from the ground up, becoming Boulder’s leading accounting firm. Incredible finance/accounting expertise and cash flow management support.","avatar_url":"https://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/company_role/custom_photo/2895743/square_cropped_Matt_Fargo.jpg?1658348209","related_urls":[]}],"featured_investors":[{"id":5900,"entity_id":"wefunder:company_investor_profile:5900","investor_profile_id":2195544,"investor_profile_entity_id":"wefunder:investor_profile:2195544","subject_entity_id":"wefunder:user:2726919","name":"Hal Brown","avatar_url":"http://uploads.wefunder.com/uploads/user/avatar/2726919/medium_blob.jpg","profile_url":"https://wefunder.com/halbrown2","investment_total":89526,"investment_info":"Invested $33,526 this round \u0026 $56,000 previously","is_lead_investor":true,"related_urls":["https://wefunder.com/halbrown2"]}],"investor_memos":[],"tab_counts":{"posts":0,"ask_questions":19,"featured_investors":1,"faq_entries":5},"active_fundraises":[{"id":64785,"entity_id":"wefunder:fundraise:64785","state":"successful","offering_type":"4(a)(6)","funding_type":"note","structure":"convertible_note","security_type":"debt","currency":"USD","testing_the_waters":false,"min_purchase":250,"max_purchase":9,"funding_target":50000.0,"funding_started_at":"2022-08-31T17:31:45Z","funding_closed_at":"2022-12-10T05:02:58Z","auto_close_at":"2022-12-10T04:59:59Z"},{"id":65471,"entity_id":"wefunder:fundraise:65471","state":"successful","offering_type":"4(a)(6)","funding_type":"note","structure":"ttw","security_type":"debt","currency":"USD","testing_the_waters":true,"min_purchase":250,"max_purchase":9,"funding_target":4000000.0,"funding_started_at":"2022-08-10T16:27:05Z"}],"latest_fundraise":{"id":64785,"entity_id":"wefunder:fundraise:64785","state":"successful","offering_type":"4(a)(6)","structure":"convertible_note","testing_the_waters":false,"can_invest_now":false,"funding_started_at":"2022-08-31T17:31:45Z","funding_closed_at":"2022-12-10T05:02:58Z","terms":{"eb":"$7M","nb":"$8M","txt":"valuation cap"}},"recent_posts":[],"q_and_a":[{"id":219641,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:219641","question":"Hi Jim, I like a lot of what is here and plan to invest, just not sure how much. Could you give some detail about your OpEx - until now it has been quite high relative to revenue (even went up in 2021 more than revenue went up), so I'm curious what the forecast is as you grow (and why)? I'm also curious about your (impressive!) list of patents - can you say anything in laymen's terms that would help me understand how much they prevent others from developing a similar product? Finally, while I know and appreciate that your focus right now is building your brand and revenue, what do you think is the most likely path to a payoff for investors? Thanks!","author_name":"Alan Jacobson","votes":3,"created_at":"2022-09-21T11:26:23Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/cusa#question-219641","answers":[{"id":219793,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:219793","answer":"Hi Alan! All great questions! 1. OpEx - we launched our sample pack program at the end of 2020 and saw incredible results. So the board decided to double down in 2021 and increase our online advertising budget from $5K/month to $30K to see if we could maintain the same low cost of acquisition. It worked incredibly well so we kept spend higher to grow the brand faster. The primary OpEx increase was marketing. As we look forward after this round and into next year, OpEx will decrease as a % of revenue and we have an achievable plan to be profitable by the end of 2023, if not earlier. 2. Yes, the patents and exclusivity give us a huge advantage. While nothing is impossible, it would be very difficult for someone else to duplicate or reverse engineer what we are doing. For example, one of our potential private label customers is Celestial Seasonings. They came to me and said that their R\u0026amp;D team had been trying to develop a high-quality soluble tea for 7 years and couldn't do it. So they came to us for the project. We also continue to innovate the process to make it more efficient, which will continue to make it difficult to duplicate. 3. As for payout, nothing is guaranteed of course, but my goal is to grow the brand to $30 million in revenue, which is not all that large compared to a lot of other tea and coffee companies. Businesses in our space have historically seen a 4-6x multiple of revenue for acquisition. So we could be sold for $120-180 million. The valuation for this round is $7 million, so if this scenario were to occur, an investor could see 17-25x return for their money. Again, it's far from guaranteed, but I will work my tail off to hopefully make it a reality. Let me know if you have any other questions!","author_name":"Jim Lamancusa","votes":1,"created_at":"2022-09-22T23:34:52Z"}]},{"id":318382,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:318382","question":"Hi Cusa team, I'm wondering if you have any updates for 2025 for your investors? Thanks!","author_name":"Mike Storm","votes":1,"created_at":"2025-10-29T19:33:27Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/cusa#question-318382","answers":[]},{"id":318378,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:318378","question":"Hi Cusa team, I'm wondering if you have any updates for 2025 for your investors? Thanks!","author_name":"Mike Storm","votes":1,"created_at":"2025-10-29T19:30:00Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/cusa#question-318378","answers":[]},{"id":219557,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:219557","question":"Jim, I am interested in becoming a lead investor. Do you have time for a conversation ? Regards, DH","author_name":"David Hadani","votes":1,"created_at":"2022-09-20T15:58:07Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/cusa#question-219557","answers":[{"id":219563,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:219563","answer":"Hi David, I would love to have a chat. Feel free to email me at Jim@CusaTea.com, or send me your email and I will connect. I look forward to it.","author_name":"Jim Lamancusa","votes":0,"created_at":"2022-09-20T16:43:28Z"}]},{"id":330997,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:330997","question":"Any updates? It has been forever","author_name":"Rick Garrett","votes":0,"created_at":"2026-04-14T04:21:52Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/cusa#question-330997","answers":[]},{"id":284702,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:284702","question":"When can we expect any update here? It's now been a year since we've heard anything.","author_name":"Lucy Ruetiman","votes":0,"created_at":"2024-06-04T21:27:27Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/cusa#question-284702","answers":[{"id":284776,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:284776","answer":"Hi Lucy, the business that acquired the assets of Cusa Tea and Coffee is still actively selling our products. Earn out payments have only been $48K to date, which is far below our $1.5 million in secured debt to pay back before we can pay back our Wefunder investors. Hopefully they can increase sales and/or land a big retailer to pay us back faster. Sorry it isn't better news, but good news that the brand is still alive and selling.","author_name":"Jim Lamancusa","votes":3,"created_at":"2024-06-05T23:20:20Z"}]},{"id":271962,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:271962","question":"Anybody have interest in a class action suit?","author_name":"Gregory Juhl","votes":0,"created_at":"2023-12-16T21:50:04Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/cusa#question-271962","answers":[]},{"id":250497,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:250497","question":"Invested in Cusa in September of 2022. Just attempted to use my investor coupons online to make a purchase and was told by Cusa: \"Cusa Tea and Coffee was recently acquired by Flat Iron Food/ WildZora and with this changes we are no longer honoring the codes provided to investors thru WeFunder. If you have questions about it you can reach out to WeFunder directly of the former CEO if Cusa Tea Jim atjim@cusatea.com.\" I'm surprised Flat Iron Food / WildZora can't honor the coupons of Cusa unless Cusa has gone bankrupt?","author_name":"Carling Mabry","votes":0,"created_at":"2023-06-14T18:32:41Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/cusa#question-250497","answers":[{"id":250520,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:250520","answer":"Hi Carling, I just posted an update to everyone so you can read more there. As for the coupons, I am no longer in control of what they honor and unfortunately there's nothing I can do. I appreciate your support.","author_name":"Jim Lamancusa","votes":0,"created_at":"2023-06-14T21:30:45Z"}]},{"id":228236,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:228236","question":"How much are the CEO, VP, and Board members paid per year? I did not see that in the offering. Or please point out where I may find that. I ask because Cusa is operating at a loss and the CEO has another full time job at the meditation center. Thanks!","author_name":"Michael Goldstein","votes":0,"created_at":"2022-12-10T01:13:31Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/cusa#question-228236","answers":[{"id":232474,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:232474","answer":"Hi Michael, Jim, the CEO here. My work at the meditation center is completely volunteer and not full time at all. It's a few hours a week at night and on the weekend. Our board is not paid and myself and the VP of Marketing are fairly compensated for a small brand. We have shifted our marketing budget to make the cuts necessary to be profitable in 2023. so lots more to come","author_name":"Jim Lamancusa","votes":0,"created_at":"2023-01-27T16:51:39Z"}]},{"id":228178,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:228178","question":"Hi Jim,\u0026nbsp; Considering making an investment today and as this is closing, will need to know more about this by 3:30pm... (no pressure, thanks\u0026nbsp;) I see that you say \" Our botanical extraction partner owns the patents. Cusa Tea and Coffee has exclusive North American right to those patents and technology.\" As an investor how can I be sure that you will continue to have those exclusive rights? Is it ironclad? That seems to be a big risk since you don't own the patents.","author_name":"Yosef  Hertz","votes":0,"created_at":"2022-12-09T17:48:16Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/cusa#question-228178","answers":[{"id":228189,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:228189","answer":"Hi Joe, great question. We have an ironclad exclusivity agreement that grants us our North American rights in perpetuity. If anyone is willing to sign an NDA, I am more than happy to share the agreement. Thanks!","author_name":"Jim Lamancusa","votes":0,"created_at":"2022-12-09T19:00:33Z"}]},{"id":227787,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:227787","question":"Thanks Jim for answering my questions, Appreciate the quick response. I have sent you an email regarding patent question.","author_name":"Krishnan Ramachandran","votes":0,"created_at":"2022-12-05T21:26:51Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/cusa#question-227787","answers":[{"id":227797,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:227797","answer":"Thanks Krishnan! Talk soon","author_name":"Jim Lamancusa","votes":0,"created_at":"2022-12-05T22:36:44Z"}]},{"id":227657,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:227657","question":"Hi, sounds like a great product and good traction so far, congrats on what you have achieved so far, looking to join as investor, I have a few questions: 1. I am curious about how you did so far this year in terms of revenue and other metrics like subscription growth as we are almost towards end of the year? 2. since you are procuring the products overseas how much impact did you have due to supply chain issues that plagued many industry in general.3. what are the growth strategies and new product introductions you are planning for 2023? 4. I see in earlier discussion, it's mentioned you have 30 patents, whose name and entity, the patents are issued or filed. I was trying to search, couldn't find it, would be helpful if you could share?","author_name":"Krishnan Ramachandran","votes":0,"created_at":"2022-12-03T21:14:27Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/cusa#question-227657","answers":[{"id":227770,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:227770","answer":"Hi Krishnan, great questions! 1. We are doing great this year on revenue and subscription growth. We are tracking at 200% annual growth, have increased subscriptions from 641 last year up to 1,543 this year, and maintained a 67% annual customer retention rate! 2. We saw a 6 week delay last December waiting for our products to clear customs in Los Angeles, but now everything is back to normal thankfully. 3. Once we close this funding round, we plan to continue our 200% growth rate by continuing to invest in digital marketing through Facebook, Google, Instagram, and TikTok. We have also had approval from Whole Foods, King Soopers, and HEB to launch Cusa Coffee next year, which will be a big increase to revenue. As for new products, we have a full line of Mushroom Infused coffee and tea that we've already developed and can launch once we finish fundraising. We also are testing an instant Boba Tea product line. 4. Our botanical extraction partner owns the patents. Cusa Tea and Coffee has exclusive North American right to those patents and technology. I would be happy to talk to you personally and share the name of our botanical extraction partner, but don't want to put it on WeFunder in case some of our competitors are watching us :) Just shoot me an email to Jim@CusaTea.com and we can talk further.","author_name":"Jim Lamancusa","votes":2,"created_at":"2022-12-05T19:13:08Z"}]},{"id":226242,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:226242","question":"Hi -- This sounds like a potentially great company. I will likely invest regardless of the answer to a question, but as an inveterate composter, I am curious: You say \"At the end of the brewing process, the used ingredients are collected, composted and used as fertilizer back at the tea and coffee farms – all of our ingredients go back to the soil after they are used.\" Where is your processor plant located? If it's not near the farms (Asia for tea, South America and Africa for coffee?) are you shipping the used ingredients back to the farms? That would seem to be very expensive.","author_name":"Jonathan Lubar","votes":0,"created_at":"2022-11-20T19:14:36Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/cusa#question-226242","answers":[{"id":226467,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:226467","answer":"Great question Jonathan. Our production facility is in Southeast Asia, just a few kilometers from our organic tea and Rainforest Alliance certified coffee farms. The farmers love the 'free' compost, and it's awesome to make sure that all of our used ingredients go back into the soil. Let me know if you have any other questions.","author_name":"Jim Lamancusa","votes":1,"created_at":"2022-11-22T14:58:13Z"}]},{"id":226223,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:226223","question":"Can you speak to the differences between your technology and that of Pique Tea?","author_name":"Robert Love","votes":0,"created_at":"2022-11-20T13:57:53Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/cusa#question-226223","answers":[{"id":226466,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:226466","answer":"Absolutely. Pique Tea uses a Freeze Drying process, which is extremely cold temperature dehydration. This can damage the tea, herbs, and coffee. Our process is a botanical extraction technology that avoids the extreme cold temperatures and can keep more of the flavor, aroma, and beneficial properties intact. I hope this helps, but let me know if you have any other questions.","author_name":"Jim Lamancusa","votes":1,"created_at":"2022-11-22T14:56:12Z"}]},{"id":225919,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:225919","question":"Hi Jim, I am curious to know as to how your products will compete with the already established brand, esp Nescafe, Lipton, which have enjoyed huge brand loyalties. Which would be your key usp's which would attract a consumer to switch over to your products, over their favourite brands. Do your products classify as \"organic products? How does the pricing of your products compare with leading brands at retail level (not comparing against starbucks) Please also inform if you have any plans for distribution in the middle east markets.","author_name":"Harish Damodhardas Asar","votes":0,"created_at":"2022-11-17T21:57:11Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/cusa#question-225919","answers":[{"id":226468,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:226468","answer":"Hello Haris, all great questions. Let's take them one at a time: 1. We will compete with Nescafe, Lipton, Starbucks, etc because our botanical extraction technology yields a significantly superior tasting product. We don't have to add in sugar, flavorings, or preservatives like they do and the product is genuinely more delicious and healthier. 2. No, while we do use exclusively organic tea, some of the fruit and spices are very difficult to find organically, so we don't claim the whole tea is organic. 3. We are priced competitively with other premium instant coffees at retail. Between 70 cents and $1 dollar per serving. 4. We would love to expand into the middle east. We would just need help to find the right distribution partners. Thanks for the questions and let me know if you have any others","author_name":"Jim Lamancusa","votes":0,"created_at":"2022-11-22T15:06:17Z"}]},{"id":223444,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:223444","question":"I would love to try this to see how it compares to the competition, but I'm based in the UK. The reviews are impressive, but coffee and tea preferences are always personal. Hopefully it'll be available soon through Amazon Europe as you mentioned. Excuse my bluntness but the only thing I don't like is the name because it doesn't allude to any of the product qualities (taste, purity, uniqueness). It is also quite similar to another well known coffee brand. Thanks for replying to my message! I had a think and something like 'Pure Brew' or 'Clean Brew' says more although I'll keep thinking, and definitely try and sample it soon for further inspiration!","author_name":"Matthew John Tan","votes":0,"created_at":"2022-10-23T21:03:55Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/cusa#question-223444","answers":[{"id":223580,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:223580","answer":"Hi Matthew, thanks for the comment and suggestions! We ship to the UK all the time and is actually pretty reasonably priced. We just launched into Amazon Canada and will hopefully launch in Europe next year. The name for the company comes from my last name Lamancusa. It's always been a nickname. But I can understand your comment and will give it some thought. If you have any other ideas, I'm all ears!","author_name":"Jim Lamancusa","votes":0,"created_at":"2022-10-24T21:09:12Z"}]},{"id":222278,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:222278","question":"Hi, I am interested to invest. What is the last day to invest? I saw you said the company can be sell for 17-25x return in 2025. How likely is it from your point of view? What if we can't sell the company? Also, is the company likely to survive in a recession?","author_name":"Minh Le","votes":0,"created_at":"2022-10-14T06:54:36Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/cusa#question-222278","answers":[{"id":222556,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:222556","answer":"Hi Minh! So the last day to invest will be either Nov 26th, or if we fill the round with other investors. I'm talking to two large Angel networks now that may take the rest of the round, in which case we would close early. As for the 17-25x return, unfortunately I can't give a 'likelihood' of it happening for SEC compliance reasons. I CAN say that the projections that I've laid out are realistic based on our current growth. Lastly, our business is likely to continue to do very well in a recession because we sell a core product that 90%+ of Americans drink daily and we are tasty and relatively inexpensive. Customers are likely to stop buying $9 drinks from Starbucks and instead chose options like Cusa Tea and Coffee, which cost less than $1. Thanks and let me know if you have any other questions!","author_name":"Jim Lamancusa","votes":0,"created_at":"2022-10-17T18:05:32Z"}]},{"id":221502,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:221502","question":"Hi Jim - great pitch deck! Are you currently in any retail locations?","author_name":"Lisa Virtue","votes":0,"created_at":"2022-10-08T17:14:53Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/cusa#question-221502","answers":[{"id":221605,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:221605","answer":"Hi Lisa! Thanks for the complement! We are currently in King Soopers, HEB, Wegmans, and about 75 outdoor retailers. They have all reached out to us, so we are excited to start outreach to other retailers!","author_name":"Jim Lamancusa","votes":0,"created_at":"2022-10-09T23:55:24Z"}]},{"id":219683,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:219683","question":"Hello, (1) Are your products likely to be made available in the UK any time soon? (2) Some of us of Indian heritage like our tea (black tea leaves) to come from the mountains of India/Sri Lanka/Kenya etc. Are you sourcing any of the traditional tea leaves (black) from the far east for your TEA?","author_name":"Dipak Patel","votes":0,"created_at":"2022-09-21T19:38:11Z","canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/cusa#question-219683","answers":[{"id":219794,"entity_id":"wefunder:comment:219794","answer":"Hi Dipak! We are actually working on launching on Amazon in Europe right now, so hopefully you can get it in the UK soon. All of our tea leaves are from the far east because tea is not a native species of America. We source organic tea from India, China, and Japan. Let me know if you have any other questions!","author_name":"Jim Lamancusa","votes":0,"created_at":"2022-09-22T23:36:18Z"}]}],"faq":[{"question":"Jim, I am interested in becoming a lead investor. Do you have time for a conversation ? Regards, DH","answer":"Hi David, I would love to have a chat. Feel free to email me at Jim@CusaTea.com, or send me your email and I will connect. I look forward to it."},{"question":"Hi Jim, I like a lot of what is here and plan to invest, just not sure how much. Could you give some detail about your OpEx - until now it has been quite high relative to revenue (even went up in 2021 more than revenue went up), so I'm curious what the forecast is as you grow ...","answer":"Hi Alan! All great questions! 1. OpEx - we launched our sample pack program at the end of 2020 and saw incredible results. So the board decided to double down in 2021 and increase our online advertising budget from $5K/month to $30K to see if we could maintain the same low cost of acquisition. It worked incredibly well so we kept spend higher to grow the brand faster. The primary OpEx increase was marketing. As we look forward after this round and into next year, OpEx will decrease as a % of ..."},{"question":"Hello, (1) Are your products likely to be made available in the UK any time soon? (2) Some of us of Indian heritage like our tea (black tea leaves) to come from the mountains of India/Sri Lanka/Kenya etc. Are you sourcing any of the traditional tea leaves (black) from the far ...","answer":"Hi Dipak! We are actually working on launching on Amazon in Europe right now, so hopefully you can get it in the UK soon. All of our tea leaves are from the far east because tea is not a native species of America. We source organic tea from India, China, and Japan. Let me know if you have any other questions!"},{"question":"Hi Jim - great pitch deck! Are you currently in any retail locations?","answer":"Hi Lisa! Thanks for the complement! We are currently in King Soopers, HEB, Wegmans, and about 75 outdoor retailers. They have all reached out to us, so we are excited to start outreach to other retailers!"},{"question":"Hi, I am interested to invest. What is the last day to invest? I saw you said the company can be sell for 17-25x return in 2025. How likely is it from your point of view? What if we can't sell the company? Also, is the company likely to survive in a recession?","answer":"Hi Minh! So the last day to invest will be either Nov 26th, or if we fill the round with other investors. I'm talking to two large Angel networks now that may take the rest of the round, in which case we would close early. As for the 17-25x return, unfortunately I can't give a 'likelihood' of it happening for SEC compliance reasons. I CAN say that the projections that I've laid out are realistic based on our current growth. Lastly, our business is likely to continue to do very well in a reces..."}]}}}