# Naia 16 years of original, award-winning gelato ## Elevator pitch Sixteen years ago, we opened a scoop shop in Downtown Berkeley to bring great tasting gelato with simple, real ingredients to Northern CA. Now we sell gelato tubs and Bar Gelato, our signature "gelato on a stick," in 250+ retailers across Northern CA. We were named one of the San Francisco Business Times' fastest-growing businesses five years in a row, and with the capital to update and expand our creamery, we're primed to break into the national market.  - Canonical URL: https://wefunder.com/naia - Entity ID: wefunder:company:24736 - Last updated: 2026-06-16T05:02:13Z - Generated at: 2026-06-16T17:47:21Z ## Quick facts - $2.9M in revenues in 2017. - Sold in 250+ Northern California stores. - 51% profit margin for branded products. - 16 years in operation. - Named in the San Francisco Business Times' fastest-growing private company list each year from 2013-2017. - Won three national awards for coffee, pistachio, and burnt caramel flavors. ## Active fundraises - wefunder:fundraise:18117: 4(a)(6) successful (USD) ## FAQ 1. **Fascinating pitch so far and thank you. What are your long-term exit goals? As a SAFE vs. an equity stake or debt note, one naturally wonders how a 16-year-old private company gives investors opportunities for a return. I love the business so far, I'd just like to hear about p...** - Thanks for reaching out Brad! 1. Regarding long-term exit goals and opportunities for return: Boutique food companies have some lofty models for exit goals - some examples from friends we work closely with include NestlĂ©'s incredible acquisition of Oakland's Blue Bottle Coffee or Ezaki Glico's recent acquisition of Berkeley's TCHO Chocolate. But we also see grounded models here for privately held dividend-returning companies like our friends at local bakery Semifreddi's in Alameda, whose CEO ... 2. **What are the financial goals of the company for 2018 and 2019? What are your ideas around getting to a cash flow positive position?** - Thanks, Kevin. The plan set out with the SBA lender includes an immediate reduction in monthly payments with the refinancing of most of our current debt. This, and the interest-only period of the loan during construction, gives us the cash flow to open the upgraded creamery with its cost-of-goods efficiencies. Even with the new real estate, construction costs, and new equipment, our monthly payments on loans will decrease by around $15k. There are some cost increases in something like utiliti... 3. **Given the availability of VC or Angel investments in Bay Area specialty foods market, why are you not raising the money through that route? Why did you choose a bank loan and crowdfund?** - Thanks, Nico. When you look at what some of our fundraise is going towards, for example acquiring real estate and equipment, a bank is a strong option because they can collateralize those hard assets. One good thing about a bank is that it does not dilute the equity in the company. We thought a crowdfund here would be appropriate because: (A) the bank has already done its due diligence for the crowd; (B) every $1 raised on Wefunder unlocks up to $4 of non-dilutive capital; and (C) it's "all o... 4. **Hi, how did you come up with the $8.9 million valuation? When do you expect to be cash flow positive? Thanks** - Thanks, Sam. 1. With regards to our valuation, I think you meant an $8.7 million valuation, which is our valuation cap for this offering. That $8.7 million valuation was based on our last successful share sale which was set at $2.25/share. It's somewhat comforting that with our current revenue, that valuation is roughly a 3.0x multiple of revenue. This may be within the ballpark of sanity for a valuation, given that the average of food and CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) startup valuations have... 5. **Your form C shows 2017 Revenue down approximately $678,000 vs 2016 Revenue. What happened? Negative Tax amounts in 16 and 17 implies that there was a profit in prior years so you could get a Net Operating Loss Carryback credit. Is this correct? If so, when was the company last...** - Thanks, Ted. A. We had mentioned the decline in revenue above to Wefunder during our interview as it has to do with our ancillary distribution business rather than anything related to the Naia brand. For convenience I will reproduce that here: . Wefunder: Can you tell us more about the dip in sales from 2016 to 2017? . Chris: One of our larger customers, Whole Foods Market, publically went through a tough time pivoting the company and ultimately getting acquired by Amazon.com. As part of the ... ## Team - Craig Nisbet (Sales Manager) - Ray Williams (Distribution Manager) - Danny Rynning (Catering Manager) - Elsa Vasquez (Accounting Manager) - Chris Tan (CEO and Co-Founder) - Trevor Morris (VP Operations and Co-founder) ## Q&A - Q: Dear Chris. any updates? I do not see any financial reports published for the last few years. - Q: Any updates? any current financials? - A: Hi Rainer, thanks for the questions. We do publish our financials annually with the Naia Annual Report that's available on this Wefunder platform - please contact them if you did not receive it.  We will be posting an update shortly with some of our new products and projects. - Q: I requested an update by emailing mail@gelaterianaia.com. I will let you know if I get a response. It does appear that the company is still active as there are postings on the Facebook account. - Q: Any updates? - Q: This company would appear to still be in business - based on it's Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/gelaterianaia. Website is now at gelaterianaia.com. Can you please provide an update? And apologies in advance but what does the 'Disclosure' mean below this text box "I have a financial relationship with Naia". Is that Wefunder? Thanks in advance. - Q: Any update on 2022 financial ? - Q: With the Regulation of  Crowdfunding deals the amount we can invest per year across this platform will hit the limit, so We were wondering if you have provisions to accept alternative outright financing. With that, we can cover over 60% of your target raise. Kindly reach out to me at HornbeckInvestment@protonmail.com so we discuss further. - Q: Hello Naia team. I hope all is well. Haven't heard a peep (nor a cent) from Naia in quite a while... Any update? - Q: Hello - any annual report or updates to share? - Q: Any update when the 2021 financials will be available? - Q: It is better if you do zoom meeting time to time with investor like some company are doing these days to discuss about the investment, financial status, progress report and future planning of the company to keep trasnparent. - Q: Any Updates? You guys have been pretty quiet. - Q: Hi, I invested with you guys, but I never received any gelato. Is your new facility in operation yet, and when can I expect some goodies? - A: Hi Jacob, thanks for the question. Our facility is in (cautiously and socially distanced) operation, and we'll have an update on everything in December. - Q: How are sales going? Is the construction complete? - A: Thanks for checking in - sorry we haven't had an update recently (and another investor has asked as well) as we finally completed the construction last week but are busy moving new equipment in.  We will send an update this week! - Q: How do I get k1 form for 2018 - A: Hi Jerry - thanks for the question.  As we are not an LLC, there are no K1 or other tax forms for 2018.