URGE
CANDIES
Functional candy. Starting with lollipops.
Four SKUs in production. Festival distribution signed. Raising $1M to launch this summer.
Four SKUs in production. Festival distribution signed. Raising $1M to launch this summer.
Y1
Launch
Community & DTC
Y2
Scale
Retail & Stores
Y3
Expand
National Reach
Y4
Platform
Aisle Takeover
Y5
Exit
Acquisition Target
Growth Round · Chicago, IL · SAFE · $1M · May 2026
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The Round Is Open · Why Now
Everything is in place. We're raising to activate it.
Factory partner secured. Festival distribution signed. Four SKUs in production. July is the launch.
The State of Play — May 2026
Our Mexico candy factory partner — one of the largest in the country — is aggressively breaking into the "Better-For-You" category, and we are the company they are betting on. They co-lead R&D and supplied the first sampling run. Supported by Naturally Chicago, distribution agreements for festival season in Chicago and Miami are signed. The infrastructure exists. This raise is the activation.
1
The "Double-Dip" Factory Partnership
They believe in the "Better-For-You" movement. By aligning equity with manufacturing, they co-lead R&D and absorb the early supply chain risk that kills most pre-seed CPG brands.
2
Festival distribution signed
Distribution agreements active for festival season and cultural venues across Chicago and Miami. The rooms where Urge belongs are already open.
3
July launch — the window is now
Festival season starts in weeks. Run clubs, community moments, Chicago Pride, ARC Music Festival. The raise goes in now and the product goes into hands this summer.
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The Team
A collective of CPG veterans and cultural builders.
We have some of the most unique spaces with our corporate backgrounds, combined with deep community roots. We're building the brand we always needed.
Omar Alvarez
CEO
Venture-backed founder. Ex-Hims & Hers, Nike, Levi's, LVMH. Puerto Rican and Guatemalan, first-generation. Built for the spaces he's lived in his entire life.
Deena Keller
Product Packaging & Brand Design
Leading the visual identity, product packaging, and subscription experience to ensure a premium, world-class unboxing at every touchpoint.
Jes Lotesto
Community Growth & Social Media
Driving community engagement, social media marketing, and brand building where our audience already lives and breathes.
Jesus Alejandro
Video Strategy & Online Subscriptions
Scaling our DTC channel, TikTok Shop, and Instagram Reels to create an organic flywheel that converts views into recurring subscriptions.
AI
Axel & The Autonomous Fleet — Built by Omar
SEO & Growth Agents
Custom-built AI architecture working 24/7. Generating targeted SEO content, intercepting high-intent search traffic, and driving organic growth—giving us a deep tech moat most CPG brands lack.
Why This Team Wins
This immediate team, in partnership with our Mexican candy factory, allows us to be extremely thoughtful in how we approach product, culture, and scale. We combine corporate CPG rigor with raw cultural intuition.
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The Origin
"
The habit is there. The function is missing.
Omar Alvarez · 2025 · Chicago
At a festival, everyone was holding a lollipop. Not eating them. Holding them. Working them. It was a prop, a flirt, something to do with your hands at midnight. I kept watching it — not once, not a few people. Everyone. And the product they were holding was a hundred-year-old piece of sugar on a stick that did absolutely nothing.
Meanwhile, outside the venues, candy has always been a point of friction for parents or health-conscious adults. Either it tastes like candy and does nothing, or it has something in it and tastes like a supplement in a wrapper.
Two completely different use cases. The exact same hole in the market.
Meanwhile, outside the venues, candy has always been a point of friction for parents or health-conscious adults. Either it tastes like candy and does nothing, or it has something in it and tastes like a supplement in a wrapper.
Two completely different use cases. The exact same hole in the market.
Early Formulation Testing · Mexico · 2026
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How many lollipops do Americans consume every single day?
2.6 Million
All sugar. Zero function. Not even the fun kind.
0 Water.
0 Mixing.
Just your mouth to
take in the goods.
take in the goods.
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The Ambition
The next billion-dollar CPG brand.
Taking something incredibly unhealthy and making it better, healthier, and with a purpose.
The playbook is proven. The candy aisle is next.
Sober Alternative
Liquid Death
$1.4B Valuation
Functional Soda
poppi
$1.95B Acquisition
Better-For-You Mexican
Siete
$1.2B Acquisition
Functional Candy
URGE
The Next $1B Category
We are applying the exact same methodology: premiumize a stagnant category, lead with unapologetic branding, and deliver a clean, functional nutritional profile that modern consumers demand.
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Brand & Visual Identity
Candy. Rethought.
Give into your urge. The pull behind our cravings.
The Tone
Bold
Playful
Design-Forward
Sensory
Premium
Slightly Provocative
The Philosophy
It is a subtle, human impulse. We are turning a mindless sugar habit into an intentional, functional routine. A shared experience built around desire, reward, and self-expression.
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The Product
A habit-forming, everyday lollipop.
Sugar-free hard candy sweetened with Monk Fruit. We aren't selling a supplement; we are selling the ritual of satisfying an urge, functionally.
SKU 01
Electrolytes
The Recovery Urge
For the morning after, the long flight, or the midday crash. Hydration delivered without a single drop of water.
SKU 02
Anti-Stress
The Calm Urge
For the high-friction moments. A physical ritual to ground yourself, paired with functional calming agents.
SKU 03
Gut Health
The Daily Urge
Turning your sweet tooth into your daily digestive support. The easiest wellness habit to maintain.
SKU 04
Immunity
The Defense Urge
For crowded rooms and changing seasons. Defense you can hold in your hand at a festival or run club.
Launch Strategy: Electrolytes and Anti-Stress will lead the summer launch at ARC Festival, North Coast, House Calls, and local run clubs. Gut Health and Immunity will roll out for DTC subscription in Q4.
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The Brand in the Wild
A product held in a hand is a billboard.
Every venue, every festival, every finish line is a distribution channel.
ARC Chicago · North Coast · House Calls
Culturally
dense spaces.
dense spaces.
The oral fixation already exists. Urge makes it functional. An interactive, highly visible product that doubles as an accessory in the crowd.
Nightlife & Festivals
Meeting people where they are already holding something.
HYROX · Run Clubs · Athletes
Grab-and-go
function.
function.
Electrolytes without the heavy powders or mixing bottles. A functional, clean product built for athletes in motion.
Sports & Endurance
Recovery that doesn't slow you down.
DTC · Sprouts · Naturally Chicago
The clear
path to retail.
path to retail.
With Sprouts opening 14–15 new stores next year and the backing of Naturally Chicago, we have a fast track from DTC to premium national scale.
Retail Expansion
Own the functional candy shelf.
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Go-to-Market
June: Pre-orders. July: Festivals.
Sept: TikTok Shop & DTC.
Sept: TikTok Shop & DTC.
We go where people hold things in their hands — and give them something worth holding.
June 2026
Online pre-order sales go live. This unlocks early cash flow, supports our AI-driven organic growth strategy, and gives our community the first opportunity to secure inventory.
Pre-Orders & Organic
July 2026
Festival and community activation begins. Chicago Pride, ARC Music Festival, run clubs, LGBTQ+ events. Product in hands — function demonstrated in the moment, where it counts.
Festivals + Run Clubs
Sept 2026
Full DTC live on tasteurge.com and TikTok Shop launch. Subscription model opens. Every in-person festival buyer from summer becomes a recurring, year-round customer.
DTC + TikTok Shop
Year 2
Lollapalooza. HYROX. Run 2 (500K pops). New functional candy format introduced. The brand compounds — every event is a channel, every customer is a creator.
National Expansion
| Event | Type | Attendance | Region |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago Pride Parade | LGBTQ+ Anchor | 1,000,000 | Chicago |
| North Coast Music Festival | Anchor | 90,000 | Chicago |
| Northalsted Market Days | LGBTQ+ Regional | 100,000 | Chicago |
| Arc Music Festival | Regional | 60,000 | Chicago |
| HYROX Chicago | Run / Endurance | 10,000+ | Chicago |
| Sable Miami × Connor Falls | LOI Venue | Active | Miami |
1% conversion · festival attendees$177K
2% conversion$354K
3% conversion$531K
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Business Model
Conservative operating model.
Mexico manufacturing · 250K-unit launch · One new candy every year · $20/pack DTC pricing
| Year 1 · 2025–26 | Year 2 · 2026–27 | Year 3 · 2027–28 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Volume | 250K pops / 20K packs | 500K pops / 50K packs | 1.0M pops / 100K packs |
| Revenue | $400K | $1.0M | $2.0M |
| Gross Profit | $259.5K | $715K | $1.53M |
| Gross Margin | 64.9%* | 71.5% | 76.5% |
| Channels | DTC + Launch events | DTC + local festivals + activations | DTC + event distribution + Regional retail |
$0.55
Production cost per pop (lands at $0.56)
$14.50
Gross profit per 10-pack at $20 DTC
15 UPSW
Target Velocity: Units Per Store Per Week during Q4 retail pilots.
1,500
Packs/month to breakeven. CF+ above 2,000.
*Y1 margin reflects 50K sampling pops (included in cost, not revenue). Per-sellable-pack margin: 72.5%. Monthly burn: $10–13K. Financial model is flexible — projections adapt as supply and distribution partners are confirmed. Full model available on request.
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Where It Goes
$1M. Two phases. Every dollar decided.
Phase 1 gets product to market. Phase 2 scales what's working.
Phase 1 — $255K · Run 1 Launch
Manufacturing — 250K pops
$140,500
Core production, ingredients, actives, packaging, freight
Festival Activation & Sampling
$60,000
50K sampling pops, Chicago + Miami activations, run clubs, PR seeding
DTC + Fulfillment + R&D + Legal
$54,500
Shopify, 3PL, formulation, trademarks, working capital buffer
Phase 2 — $595K · Run 2 + National GTM
Run 2 Manufacturing Deposit
$225,000
500K pop second run — funded from capital + Run 1 revenue
National Festivals + Ops/Sales Hire
$270,000
Lollapalooza, HYROX, DTC/TikTok Shop, Head of Sales/Ops (12mo)
Distribution Partners + Reserve
$250,000
Supply and distribution partner activation, market opportunities, bridge buffer
End of Year 1
$1.4M
Cash on hand by December 2026. Run 1 closed. Run 2 initiated. Next raise from a position of proof.
Production Cost Per Pop
$0.55
Run 1 · 250K
$0.45
Run 2 · 500K
$0.35
Run 3 · 1M
Cost per pop drops 36% by Run 3. Margin expands from 64.9% → 76.5%.
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12-Month Roadmap
From raise to $1.4M cash — in 12 months.
Month-by-month. No surprises.
Raise · Now
$1M
Growth round deposited. Capital unlocked for summer activation and final inventory scaling.
June
Pre-Order
Online pre-order sales launch for Electrolytes and Anti-Stress. Building initial community momentum.
July – Aug
Festivals
In-person activation at ARC, North Coast, and local run clubs. The product hits hands exactly where it belongs.
Sept – Oct
DTC Scale
Full e-commerce launch. Converting in-person trial to recurring subscriptions via TikTok Shop and Instagram.
Nov – Dec
Portfolio
Winter rollout. Introducing Immunity and Gut Health SKUs. Expanding the functional catalog before year-end.
Q1 2027
Retail Prep
Leveraging DTC velocity data and Naturally Chicago support to finalize Sprouts and regional grocery placements.
Dec 2026
Proven Velocity
4 SKUs live. Subscriptions compounding. The data that earns the next partner and drives retail expansion.
Breakeven: 1,500 packs/month. Cash flow positive above 2,000 packs/month. Monthly burn: $10–13K.
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Competitive Landscape
Point Solutions vs. A Functional Platform
Incumbents are stuck selling single-use features to kids or pharmacies. We are selling a holistic routine.
The Status Quo
Zollipops & YumEarth
Better-for-you, but useless. Sugar-free or organic, but zero functional benefit. Built and branded exclusively for children's lunchboxes.
Electropops & Dr. John's
Functional, but sterile. Single-use (only electrolytes), clinical branding, and zero cultural resonance. Built for a pharmacy shelf, not a lifestyle.
The Urge Advantage
URGE ✦
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→
4-SKU Platform from Day 1 Hydration, Anti-Stress, Gut Health, Immunity. We don't solve one problem; we own the entire functional candy routine.
-
→
Unapologetic Cultural Resonance Aesthetic and tone designed to command attention at a music festival, a run club, or a high-end grocer.
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→
Unmatched R&D Agility Our exclusive factory partnership allows us to iterate and launch new functional formulas faster and cheaper than legacy incumbents.
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Tech as a Moat
Blending deep tech into CPG.
Most candy brands rely exclusively on paid ads. We are building an autonomous organic engine.
The SEO Void in CPG
Functional CPG is historically underserved by tech. While competitors fight over escalating Meta ad costs, high-intent search traffic (e.g., "sugar-free electrolytes", "candy without dyes", "festival supplements") is completely ignored by legacy brands.
The AI Architecture
We built Axel, a custom, autonomous Shopify SEO engine. Working 24/7, our agent fleet analyzes search intent, generates hyper-targeted organic content, and aggressively captures top-of-funnel traffic.
Why We Are Doing It
- → Zero Marginal Cost: We don't pay per click. Every piece of indexed content is a compounding digital asset.
- → High Intent Capture: We intercept consumers at the exact moment they are looking for a functional solution, bypassing the noise of social feeds.
- → An Unfair Advantage: Tech is our native language. We are building a software moat around a physical product.
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Momentum
We didn't wait for capital to start building.
We've laid the groundwork for scale across product, distribution, and digital presence.
A Lean, High-Output Foundation
Omar managed functional lines at Hims & Hers, learning the exact playbook for CPG hyper-growth. Leveraging that expertise, the team has already secured a manufacturing partnership, formulated four functional SKUs, and established our digital architecture—all before raising a single dollar. The engine is built. We are raising to pour fuel in it.
✓
Festival Distribution Active
Agreements signed across Chicago and Miami for the summer festival season. Supported by Naturally Chicago, our path to market is clear and actionable.
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Brand & Social Presence
tasteurge.com is live. Instagram and TikTok strategies are mapped and ready to activate, capturing organic waitlist demand from early events.
AI
Autonomous Growth Agents
We've deployed custom AI agents to scale our organic presence, SEO footprint, and content generation. Compounding growth that doesn't rely on expensive paid ads.
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The Ask
$1M
Growth SAFE · Chicago, IL · May 2026
What This Capital Does
SummerFestivals, run clubs, and in-person activation. Product in hands.
FallDTC launches. TikTok Shop. Converting trials into subscriptions.
WinterExpanding the portfolio with Immunity and Gut Health SKUs.
Q1 2027Preparing for Sprouts and regional grocery expansion.
GoalProving velocity to position perfectly for the next funding round.
Why Right Now
- Factory Partner: Our Mexican manufacturing partner enables rapid R&D and 4 functional SKUs from Day 1.
- Distribution Active: Agreements signed for festival season and cultural venues across Chicago and Miami.
- Organic Growth: No heavy paid acquisition required. The product format naturally creates highly-visible, user-generated content.
- Agile Model: Our operations allow us to quickly adapt to market signals and capitalize on retail opportunities.
Four SKUs in production. Festival distribution signed. Factory partner secured. The raise funds what comes next: getting product into the hands of the people who need it — at festivals, at run clubs, at every moment worth showing up for.
Book 30 minutes with Omar ↗
omar@tasteurge.com
View the investment memo ↗
URGE · tasteurge.com · omar@tasteurge.com · Growth Round · May 2026
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