Pickup Coffee Seeks $8M in Convertible Notes to Expand Across Markets

Four years after Diego Lorenzo and Jamie Fernandez launched a delivery-only coffee brand out of the Philippines, Pickup Coffee is pursuing up to $8 million in convertible notes from existing investor Venturi Partners and new backer Antler, according to people familiar with the development who spoke to DealStreetAsia. The capital raise, reported March 13, 2026, is intended to strengthen operations in the chain's existing markets rather than open new frontiers.

The convertible note raise may not be the full picture. Sources indicate a separate equity fundraising effort could bring in an additional $20 to $40 million and was reported to have closed a few months earlier, though exact timing, investors, and confirmed amounts have not been publicly disclosed.

The pace of Pickup Coffee's growth makes the fundraising activity easy to understand. Since its 2022 founding, the chain has scaled to roughly 500 stores across the Philippines and pushed into Mexico with around 50 outlets, a footprint that would be remarkable for any budget concept operating on a four-year timeline.

The model driving that expansion is worth noting. Pickup Coffee started purely in delivery, then pivoted to a hybrid format built around food-truck-style stalls rather than conventional cafes. That physical-but-lean format kept overhead low enough to price drinks below what traditional coffee chains charge, giving the brand a competitive edge in cost-sensitive markets. The menu spans standard espresso-based drinks alongside iced teas, hot chocolates, and specialty creations including an Ube Latte, Iced Pistachio Milk, and Avocado Latte, the kind of locally inflected lineup that tends to build loyalty quickly.

Venturi Partners was already on the cap table before this round, while Antler's participation represents a fresh institutional vote of confidence in the low-cost, high-volume playbook Lorenzo and Fernandez have built. No terms for the convertible notes, including interest rate, maturity, or conversion discount, have been disclosed, and no official comment from Pickup Coffee or either investor appeared in reporting at the time of publication.

With roughly 550 stores operating across two countries and a potential total capital raise that could reach $48 million when both instruments are counted at their upper limits, Pickup Coffee is clearly moving beyond startup territory and into the kind of scaled regional operator that attracts serious attention from the specialty coffee world.