DURHAM — Mati LLC, an energy drink company based in Durham, has raised $2 million from selling debt, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Thursday.
The $2 million was raised from 19 investors with the date of the first sale toward the end of August. The filing did not disclose what it plans to do with the money.
This is the startup’s first funder since the naming of a new CEO, Eric Masters. In January, the founder of Mati, Tatiana Birgisson, exited the company after six years.
Masters worked at Coca-Cola Co. for 10 years while the new vice president of sales, Mark Mullins, served as the vice president of sales and co-founder of Social House Vodka in Raleigh.
The beverage startup is looking to the two new executives to hopefully expand the product nationally and create new product innovation. The product’s retail presence on the East Coast will be the initial focus heading into 2019.
Masters and Birgisson continue to keep a strong relationship with each other despite her no longer having an official role within the company. Masters has been an investor within the company since 2016.
Birgisson founded the company in 2012 after experimenting with teas in her Duke University dorm room. Her goal was to create an energy drink that was equal parts healthy and effective.
Mati has formed partnerships with stores such as Whole Foods, Costco, Kroger and others. The startup also won the “Google Demo Day” title in 2015.
The startup also raised $5 million in August 2017.
Companies relying on a Reg D exemption do not have to register their offering of securities with the SEC, but they must file what’s known as a Form D electronically with the SEC after they first sell their securities.
This story is from the North Carolina Business News Wire, a service of the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Media and Journalism
