Waku, an immigrant-owned company in Brighton, MA specializes in traditional prebiotic teas using ethically sourced ingredients from farmers in Ecuador. Childhood friends, Nico Estrella and Juan Giraldo, founded Waku in 2019 to share prebiotic herbal teas with American consumers.
Waku sold their ready-to-drink tea products across New England. They wanted to expand in 2023 and secured Whole Foods Markets in the Northeast region through Rainforest Distribution. But this opportunity brought new financial challenges.
“Our biggest constraint was working capital,” explains co-founder Juan Giraldo. “We had to pay for the inventory before we could sell and get paid for it—creating a cash flow gap, limiting our ability to scale.”
This is a dilemma for start-up food and beverage companies: success breeds more orders, but fulfilling them requires capital weeks before getting paid for the orders. For Waku, this timing issue threatened their growth just as they were gaining momentum.
Seeking support to sustain their growth, Waku engaged LEAF’s Elevate team. After a financial analysis, LEAF created a tailored procurement finance facility for Waku’s production and sales cycle.
LEAF’s financing generated new revenue for Waku. “LEAF helped us cover a critical piece of our working capital needs so we’d have enough product for our customers,” notes Giraldo. “By shortening our working capital timeline, we’ve driven more sales and accelerated our growth.”
What distinguishes LEAF? “LEAF has been tremendous for us,” Giraldo emphasizes. “They have taken time to have a deep understanding of our business and have grown our line of credit with us to meet our sales,” helping Waku prepare for their biggest season yet.