Aisha “Pinky” Cole and the Slutty Vegan brand continue to wrack up investments and make news. Cole, who is no stranger to media attention and pushing the virtues of her brand and foundation, also continues to bring in money.
The 33-year-old Cole has recently announced that she has raised another $25 million in a Series A funding round for Slutty Vegan, raising the investment in her brand to $100 million. So far. Her goal is to build a billion-dollar brand, not just with her vegan burger chain but also through a shoe deal, her foundation and other interests.
With the latest investment, Cole, whose Slutty Vegan restaurants now sport four locations in the Atlanta area, not including food trucks, has plans to open another ten by the end of the year.
The latest funding round was led by entrepreneur Richelieu Dennis’ New Voices Fund and Enlightened Hospitality Investments, which restaurateur Danny Meyer heads up.
Cole was thrilled with Meyer’s participation. “I got the Michael Jordan of food on my team,” she said. “He has proven that you can scale a business, and it can be unique.”
Meyer is an admirer of Cole’s restaurant brand. “I had never seen vegan food presented in such a fun way,” he said. “Leaders are often defined by the degree to which people want to follow them, and I saw people following the leader.”
Up next is growing her infrastructure with the addition of a chief operating officer and chief marketing officer the help scale and manage the company’s growth.