Green Circle Capital Partners, New York, announced the completion of an equity capital raise for Pittsford, N.Y.-based Karma Culture LLC, makers of Karma Wellness Water and Karma Probiotics. Both product lines utilize the patented Karma Push Cap. 

The company raised a combined $2.25 million in preferred equity from a syndicate of investors in a closing conducted in December 2015 and another in June of this year, according to Stu Strumwasser, senior managing director of Green Circle. 

“It has been a real pleasure to be associated with the team from Karma,” Strumwasser said in a statement. “They are uniquely experienced and consummate professionals, and we are big believers in the market opportunity they are addressing.” 

CJ Rapp, founder and chief executive officer of Karma Culture, said: “We needed a modest injection of capital to fund our growth and the introduction of our new product line. Stu and his team at Green Circle turned out to be the perfect choice. Stu is tireless and was often on the phone with me at night and on weekends. The unconventional hours were helpful while trying to also manage a growing company. It didn’t hurt that he had personally run a beverage startup for years, as it enabled him to deeply understand our challenges and opportunities and articulate them to prospective investors. Green Circle advised us on how to properly structure the transaction, secured the capital we needed from an impressive list of new investors and also helped us to initiate relationships with several important institutional investors with whom we may reconnect in the future.”

Karma Culture LLC now sells its premium hydration beverage products nationwide and in Canada. The company also sells or licenses its patented dispensing-cap system to a variety of third-party customers who seek to include ingredients that would otherwise not be shelf-stable, into convenient “ready-to-mix” products, it says.