TAMPA & CLEARWATER, Fla., U.S. – Florida’s cold brew ready-to-drink coffee leader, MADE Coffee, announces it has received a major investment from the Grammy® Award-winning global superstar and entrepreneur Armando Christian Perez, aka Pitbull, making him an equity owner in the MADE brand.
Chris Dowd, a Tampa investor and co-founder of Clearwater-based MADE Coffee, said Perez had been evaluating coffee industry businesses for investment and chose MADE Coffee for a “significant stake” because of its potential to become a dominant player in the cold brewed ready-to-drink (RTD) coffee and related consumer products categories nationwide.
“MADE Coffee is a Florida-based independent enterprise and has taken impressive short steps toward building its long-term vision,” said Perez. “After evaluating its operations, it became clear that the founders are visionaries and that I wanted to be a part of their journey. The brewing process and marketing talent, the management team’s business acumen and their array of products are impressive assets that position the company for success in pursuing its aggressive growth and revenue objectives.”
Two years ago, when the company was just beginning, MADE Coffee partners Michael Rideout, Taylor Prater, Chris Dowd and Scott Dobbins were discussing who would be their ideal partner in the future, and decided they would approach Perez when the time was right.
After experiencing explosive growth with over 4,000 points of distribution for their ready to drink canned coffee products, including placement in all 845 Publix Super Markets in Florida, Perez’s interest was piqued.
“Armando’s addition to the MADE Coffee team is a game changer,” said Michael Rideout. “He’s built a global brand through hard work, foresight, leadership and perseverance. This partnership has been an inspiration to our entire team, and we look forward to executing our plan to become the consumer go-to choice for ready-to-drink cold brew coffee and other proprietary products we have in the R&D pipeline.”
