CASE STUDY: How Citizens Coffee Raised $886K+ by Turning Customers, Ads, and Walk-Ins into Investors

🧠 About Citizens Coffee: A Neighborhood Brand with National Vision

Citizens Coffee isn’t just a place to grab your morning flat white—it’s a community-driven, high-vibe coffee experience born in New York City and built on hospitality, quality, and connection.

With multiple thriving locations, a growing fanbase, and a vision to expand nationally, Citizens had something most startups envy:

A passionate, loyal customer base that already loved the brand.

Instead of turning to a VC firm or giving up control, Citizens made a bold move:
🎯 Invite their community to own a piece of the growth.

They teamed up with Space Funding to build a capital campaign that blended:

• ☕ Walk-in customer loyalty
• 📲 Paid online acquisition
• 💬 Direct storytelling
• 📈 Smart tech & funnel infrastructure

The result? Nearly $900K raised—and a campaign that continues to pay off in brand loyalty, repeat business, and investor love.

🚨 The Challenge: Connect Offline Fans with an Online Raise

Citizens already had:

• 📍 Multiple thriving locations
• 💬 A brand people were talking about
• 📦 A growing DTC product strategy
• 🤝 Loyal customers walking through their doors daily

What they didn’t have yet?

• A way to turn that foot traffic into investor traffic
• A system to track leads and optimize conversions
• A campaign that could scale beyond NYC

That’s where Space Funding stepped in.

🧩 Step 1: Build the Funnel + Activate the Community

We created a custom self-hosted investor funnel that:✅ Matched their vibe—clean, modern, welcoming
✅ Collected 100% of investor data
✅ Tracked visits, drop-offs, clicks, and behavior
✅ Included mobile-first investment flow and retargeting

Then, we designed two acquisition paths to feed that funnel:

1️⃣ In-Person / Store-Based Activation

• Walk-in customers learned about the opportunity from signage and baristas
• QR codes led them to the funnel
• Direct conversations turned regulars into shareholders

2️⃣ Paid Ad Strategy

• Geo-targeted campaigns to loyal NYC fans + new audiences
• Retargeting based on site behavior
• Lookalike audiences based on customer profiles

👉 Learn why owning your funnel is essential:
Why You Shouldn’t Raise on a Marketplace

💸 The Results: Loyalty, Capital, and Community in One Cup

MetricResultCapital Raised$886,662.93Funnel TypeSelf-hosted (full data ownership)Investor BlendAccredited + retail + in-store customersLeads CapturedThousands across digital + physical touchpointsCustomer ROIHigh repeat rates and loyalty post-investmentBrand EquityInvestors became advocates + content creators

People who love your product already trust your brand.
Now they got to own it, too.

And it didn’t just raise money—it deepened loyalty and created momentum that VCs are starting to notice.

👉 For a similar community-first raise:
See: How Popsmith Raised $1.1M+ by Letting Customers Invest

⚙️ Why It Worked

✅ Story-First, Not “Salesy”

Investors weren’t pitched—they were invited. The story focused on:

“Help us grow your favorite neighborhood café into a nationwide brand.”

✅ Two Funnels, One Strategy

Both online and offline channels pointed to a single, smart funnel—allowing Citizens to measure, optimize, and scale.

✅ Full Control of Their Audience

Every lead, whether from Instagram or their in-store espresso line, ended up in their own CRM—making follow-up, future raises, and brand-building seamless.

💡 What Founders Can Learn From Citizens Coffee

Whether you run a café, CPG brand, or local business with big dreams, this is your playbook:

Customers who love your brand will invest—if you give them the opportunity.

Citizens turned:

• ☕ Walk-ins into investors
• 📲 Ads into advocates
• 💬 Loyalty into capital

And now they have:

• 100% of their investor and customer data
• A list of leads to engage for future raises or product drops
• A brand community that’s stronger—and more valuable—than ever before

👋 Want to Raise Like Citizens Coffee?

At Space Funding, we help brands like Citizens, The Nutr, Popsmith, Boxabl, and Lit Motors turn loyal customers into long-term investors.

Whether you’re raising capital or growing community—or both—we build funnels, strategies, and momentum that do it all.

But we only work with a few standout teams each month.

🚨 Ready to raise capital while growing your brand?
Then it’s time to own your raise, your data, and your future.

📩 Email us at hello@spacefunding.us
Let’s turn your community into your cap table.

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