URGE
Functional candy. Starting with lollipops.
Building a sugar-free candy brand — one candy at a time.
Building a sugar-free candy brand — one candy at a time.
Y1
$400K
Launch
Y2
$1.0M
Expand
Y3
$2.0M
Scale
Y4
$5M+
Platform
Y5
$10M+
Category
Friends & Family Round · Chicago, IL · SAFE · $300K · April 2026
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Why Us · Why Now
The manufacturer believed in this before we raised a dollar.
That almost never happens in CPG.
The Partnership · Mexico Manufacturing
Our manufacturing partner in Mexico — a decades-old candy institution with government export certifications and a 35+ country distribution network — covered the initial R&D costs. We didn't negotiate it. They offered. They're leaning into everything we throw at them. When the maker with that kind of infrastructure backs a brand at the idea stage, it means something.
1
Manufacturing moat, day one
Decades of hard candy production. Export certifications. 35+ country distribution network. This infrastructure takes years to build. We have it at launch — and it's not replicable.
2
R&D costs covered by the partner
The rarest signal in early-stage CPG: the maker with the most to lose wrote the first check in kind. That's conviction you can't manufacture. They're fully in it with us.
3
Distribution relationships already exist
We're not cold-calling distributors. We have an existing partner network across the US and Mexico — the unlock for Year 2 scaling that most brands spend years trying to build.
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The Team
Friends since high school. Building the brand they always needed.
Omar moved to Chicago in March 2025 to build Urge with Ivan. One founder Puerto Rican and Guatemalan, one Bulgarian. Two different rooms — same gap in the market.
Omar Alvarez
Co-Founder & CEO
- Venture-backed founder — Kinnect.club (TechCrunch, Fast Company)
- Nike · Levi's · LVMH · Hilton · Hims & Hers · Kendo
- Puerto Rican and Guatemalan, first-generation. Gay. The clubs, the festivals, the community spaces Urge is built for — he's been in those rooms his entire life.
- Was at a festival when he saw everyone holding a lollipop that did nothing. That was the idea.
Ivan Momchilov
Co-Founder & COO
- Digital Transformation & Operations — Sheer Logistics (recognized 4PL)
- 10+ years in 3PL, cold-chain, and North American retail distribution
- Was already thinking about the same product for his two kids — healthy candy with real ingredients, retail-ready, distributed across North America.
- Found the manufacturing partner in Mexico — the relationship that made Urge possible.
Why This Team Wins
Omar sees the culture from the inside. Ivan sees the supply chain from end to end. They've known each other since high school. When two people who built their careers in completely different worlds arrive at the exact same idea — you listen.
Omar
CEO — Brand & Growth
+
Ivan
COO — Ops & Distribution
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The Origin
"
Two founders. Same gap. Different room.
Omar Alvarez & Ivan Momchilov · 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.
Same week. Ivan was at Whole Foods with his kids, reading the back of every candy package. Either it tastes like candy and does nothing, or it has something in it and tastes like a supplement in a wrapper.
Two founders. Two completely different rooms. The exact same hole in the market.
Same week. Ivan was at Whole Foods with his kids, reading the back of every candy package. Either it tastes like candy and does nothing, or it has something in it and tastes like a supplement in a wrapper.
Two founders. Two completely different rooms. The exact same hole in the market.
Omar & Ivan · ARC Festival · Chicago, 2025
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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.
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The Thesis
A lollipop company.
URGE is NOT a lollipop company.
It is a functional candy brand built from inside the culture.
Chicago-built. Community-led. One new candy every year — until we own the sugar-free aisle.
Why The Lollipop
Gummies are crowded. Powders are tired. The candy aisle is the most untouched shelf in CPG — and the lollipop is its most visual, shareable, held-up-at-a-festival format. Nobody has done this yet.
Expanding the Category
One new sugar-free, functional candy each year. Chews. Gummies. Whatever the culture calls for. One brand. Growing the aisle until we cover it.
Community Advantage
Inside the venues, the races, the festivals. The relationships that seed a brand like this aren't bought. They're lived. Years of them.
Liquid Death started with water. Poppi started with soda. The candy aisle is more broken than both of those categories were. We have more room to run.
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The Market
Three entry markets.
One growing habit.
One growing habit.
$2.15B
North America lollipop market 2024, growing 4.2% annually
9.4%
Sugar-free lollipop CAGR 2025–30. Outpacing conventional 2×
$68B
Global functional confectionery 2024 → $136B by 2033
60%
US consumers actively seeking low-sugar snacks — FDA data
940 million lollipops sold in the US last year. 2.6 million consumed every single day. The habit is already there. The category exists. Nobody has built the version that actually does something.
Nightlife
Bars, clubs, concerts, festivals. EDM. Gay bars. The oral fixation is already there. Urge makes it functional.
ARC Chicago, Boystown — active distribution conversations now.
Endurance
HYROX, marathons, triathlons. Recovery that doesn't taste like chalk. Hydration SKU purpose-built for this moment.
Chicago Marathon — Year 2 beachhead.
Everyday
DTC subscription, health food, Hispanic grocery. 65M+ US Hispanic consumers — almost no functional brand speaking to them directly.
We're from this community. That's not a strategy. That's a moat.
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The Product
Two launch SKUs. Clinical doses. Zero sugar.
Sugar-free hard candy. Isomalt + erythritol base. Conventional food under 21 CFR Part 101 — no compliance burden. Every ingredient GRAS or FDA-approved.
SKU 01
Electrolytes
For long days, late nights, and next-day reset
$20per 10-pack · DTC
BerryCherryTropical
Per Pop
- Sodium Citrate270mg
- Potassium Citrate135mg
- Magnesium (elemental)70mg
- Vitamin C334mg
"Electrolytes support proper hydration." — FDA-allowable claim. Two pops = 33% DV Mg, 742% DV Vitamin C.
SKU 02
Anti-Stress
For the show, the race, the shift that doesn't stop
$20per 10-pack · DTC
MangoTamarindoTropical
Per Pop
- B12 (methylcobalamin)750mcg
- Vitamin B55mg
- Vitamin B61.5mg
- Zinc (elemental)13mg
- Vitamin C222mg
"B-vitamins contribute to normal energy metabolism." Two pops = 62,500% DV B12.
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The Product · First Sample Run
In hand.
April 14, 2026.
April 14, 2026.
Chicago Food Expo debut · April 23rd
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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 · Boystown · Pride
11:47 PM.
Everyone's holding one.
Everyone's holding one.
The oral fixation already exists. Urge makes it functional. Every person holding one is a walking ad.
Nightlife & Festivals
The habit is there. The product wasn't. Now it is.
Chicago Marathon · HYROX · Triathlons
Mile 18.
No chalk.
Just a pop.
No chalk.
Just a pop.
Electrolytes and B-vitamins without the powder, the bottle, or the grimace.
Endurance
Recovery that doesn't taste like medicine.
DTC · Whole Foods · Candy Aisle
The candy
aisle hasn't
changed.
aisle hasn't
changed.
DTC to prove it. Health retail to scale it. Then the candy aisle — the most broken shelf in the store.
Retail & Everyday
Own the functional candy shelf before anyone else shows up.
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Go-to-Market
Win Chicago first.
As we build with culture.
Now
First samples in hand April 14th. Chicago Food Expo debut April 23rd. ARC Chicago + Boystown distribution conversations active.
DTC — tasteurge.com
Month 1–3
DTC launch. First venue partnership. First 600 packs sold. Product proven in the wild.
Venues — Bars & Clubs
Month 4–6
2–3 Chicago festival activations. Real consumer data collected. Refine and double down.
Events — Festivals & Marathons
Year 2
New candy from Year 1 data. Chicago Marathon. First regional retail conversations. 500K pop Run 2.
Chicago HQ — Built here
| Event | Type | Attendance | Region |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago Pride Parade | LGBTQ+ Anchor | 1,000,000 | Chicago |
| Summerfest (WI) | Anchor | 555,925 | Midwest |
| North Coast Music Festival | Anchor | 90,000 | Chicago |
| Northalsted Market Days | LGBTQ+ Regional | 100,000 | Chicago |
| Arc Music Festival | Regional | 60,000 | Chicago |
| Movement Detroit | Regional | 30,000 | Midwest |
1% conversion · 885K Midwest 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
$446K
Projected cash at end of Year 1 — self-funded from sales
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. $300K investment captures ~$1.4M in enterprise value within Year 1 (Run 1 cash + Run 2 initiated).
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Where It Goes
$300K. Here's exactly where every dollar goes.
No ambiguity. No "marketing budget TBD." Every line is decided.
Manufacturing — 250K pops
$140,500
Core production, ingredients, actives, packaging, freight
Marketing & Sampling
$60,000
50K sampling pops, festival activations, PR seeding, influencers
Fulfillment & DTC Setup
$15,000
Shopify, 3PL setup, shipping materials
R&D — 2 SKUs
$10,000
Formulation, sampling, stability, flavor iterations
Legal / IP / G&A
$10,000
Incorporation, insurance, trademarks, bookkeeping
Working Capital & Reserve
$19,500
Freight variances, packaging overages, buffer
The Return
$1.4M
Enterprise value captured within Year 1. Run 1 closes with $446.5K cash — enough to initiate Run 2 ($1M revenue target) without raising again.
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 $446K cash — in 12 months.
Month-by-month. No surprises.
Raise
$300K
F&F funds deposited. Deposits placed with Mexico manufacturer.
Months 1–2
Build
R&D finalized. 250K pops in production. Site live. April 23rd debut.
Month 3
$12K
First 600 packs sold. DTC live. First venue partnership active.
Months 4–5
$77K
DTC launch + first festival activations. 3,850 packs sold.
Months 6–7
$100K
Events + DTC ramp. 5,000 packs. Cash flow positive.
Month 8
$53K
Festival activation peak. 2,650 packs. $43K net cash month.
Months 9–12
$158K
Sustained ops + reorder planning. Run 2 initiated.
End of Year 1
$446.5K
Cash on hand. 20K packs sold. Run 2 funded from operations.
Breakeven: 1,500 packs/month. Cash flow positive above 2,000 packs/month. Monthly burn: $10–13K.
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Competitive Landscape
Nobody is doing all of this. That's the point.
The category is unclaimed. Every competitor has one piece of the story — Urge has all of it.
| Brand | Sugar-Free | Electrolytes | B-Vitamins | Clinical Dose | MX Mfg | Festival-Native |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| URGE ✦ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Zollipops | ✓ | — | — | — | — | — |
| Electropops | ✓ | ✓ | — | Partial | — | — |
| Dr. John's Vitamin Pops | ✓ | — | — | Partial | — | — |
| YumEarth | — | — | — | — | ✓ | — |
Anyone can copy a formula. Nobody can copy a brand born at a festival, built by founders who live in these communities, packaged by a designer from Hims & Hers, and seeded through relationships that took years to earn. The formula gets you on the shelf. The brand is why people come back.
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The Ask
$300K
Friends & Family SAFE · Chicago, IL · April 2026
What This Capital Does
$400KYear 1 revenue — 20K packs at $20 DTC
72.5%Gross margin at launch, expanding to 76.5% by Year 3
250K popsLaunch volume via Mexico manufacturing
$446KCash at end of Year 1 — self-funded from sales alone
Run 2500K pops, $1M target — initiated without raising again
Why Right Now
- Our manufacturer in Mexico covered the initial R&D costs. That doesn't happen. They believed before we raised a dollar.
- Chicago Food Expo debut April 23rd. First run lands the same day. The product is real and ready.
- 6 confirmed Midwest festival targets — 885,000+ combined attendees. Chicago Pride, Summerfest, North Coast, Arc, and more. At 1% conversion: $177K in event revenue alone. At 2%: $354K. These are our venues.
- After 90–120 days of DTC and event data: raise a $1–3M pre-seed — or self-fund Run 2 from Run 1 cash. Both paths work.
A manufacturer who covered R&D before we raised a dollar. A designer from Hims & Hers on packaging. Roots inside the communities we're selling to. The window to be early is right now.
Book 30 minutes with Omar ↗
omar@tasteurge.com
View the investment memo ↗
URGE · tasteurge.com · omar@tasteurge.com · ivan@tasteurge.com
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