The chain announced Tuesday morning that it has received an additional $18.5 million in funding from Revolution Growth, an investment fund from AOL cofounder Steve Case and fellow former AOL execs Ted Leonsis and Donn Davis. Behance CEO Scott Belsky, Stonyfield Farm founder Gary Hirshberg, and restaurateurs Danny Meyer and Daniel Boulud also contributed to the round.
Sweetgreen had previously received $22 million in venture funding from Revolution Growth in December of 2013, bringing its total to $40.5 million.
Founded in 2007 by Georgetown grads Nicolas Jammet, Jonathan Neman, and Nathaniel Ru, the brand focuses on sourcing ingredients from local farms to create salads that are healthy, quick, and affordable.
"The words 'seasonality' and 'fast food' are rarely used together, but at sweetgreen, we believe that the two don't have to be mutually exclusive - it just takes a commitment to standing behind our food ethos and working with farmers that share the same values," cofounder and co-CEO Nicolas Jammet said in a press release announcing the new funding.
Sweetgreen currently operates 27 locations on the East Coast, and it plans to open stores in California next year.
We recently visited a Sweetgreen restaurant in New York City to see if it lived up to the hype.