Puffin Drinkwear Co-Founder Tyrone Hazen with some of his products.

What started off as a fun campfire discussion now has financial backing from a group of venture capitalists to take Puffin Drinkwear to a new level — more distribution channels, more product lines and more employees.

Founded in Bend, Puffin Drinkwear — think cozy puffy jackets that look like jackets for a can of beer or a puffy sleeping bag for a wine bottle — received an undisclosed sum of Series A funding from Village Family Capital and Jim Collis of Colfam Management. Series A funding is the first round of funding for startups.

The majority of the money came from these private equity funds, but additional funds are still coming in for this round, said Scott Allan, interim CEO of Puffin Drinkwear.

“From the original store to full production, we’re a Bend, Oregon, story,” said Allan, who had led Hydro Flask, another Bend-founded company, for eight years. “The quality of the investors are top shelf private equity funders with experience in outdoor brands. I came out of retirement to come back here.”

Company revenues have grown by 53% in the past year at the same time it expanded its product line with 50 new items.

New retailers include, Bass Pro Shop, Scheels, Cabela’s, Dillards, L.L. Bean and Public Lands, the company said.

Businesses that make fun and different products often can set themselves apart from others in the marketplace, said Adam Krynicki, Oregon State University-Cascades Innovation Co-Lab executive director.

“Customers talk about products that are different, and this word-of-mouth marketing travels,” Krynicki said. “The company gets more attention, more buyers, and more people talking. Being fun and different isn’t just marketing — it’s momentum.”

As a startup gains momentum, Krynicki said it adds more people to its roster and can expand its marketing and production.

“Startups go through stages,” said Krynicki. “When a startup launches, founders focus on making a product and getting buyers. After they find their market, the focus changes to managing their employees, financials and other systems.

“As a startup transitions into a bigger company, the founders go from working in the company to working on the company.”

Puffin Drinkwear was founded by Tyrone Hazen and Byron and Christina Linton and launched in 2019. It was self-funded and self-promoted then. Like many other businesses, the COVID-19 related shutdowns slowed growth and derailed launches.

But once Hazen was able to convince a Bend store to stock a few items on the corner of a counter, business took off. Today the company has its products in more than 4,000 stores in the United States and Canada. Puffin Drinkwear products can be branded or turned into spacesuits with a NASA logo for a gift shop in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

At month’s end, Puffin Drinkwear will be donating proceeds from the sale of products at REI in the Old Mill District during a benefit for Oregon Adaptive Sports group.

Giving back to the community is among the four core values identified at a recent meeting, Allan said.

Other values that the founders and funders identified were: Create a company that everyone wants to work at; scale and grow the company; be charitable and sustainable; and be synonymous with the brand.

“We’re trying to be drink-wear for your drink,” Allan said. “We want to be adaptive to this time, this consumer and this product. We put our values on the white board on my second day here. We want to create something that we’re proud of.”

Over the next couple of weeks Allan, the three co-founders and the funders will add two people to its board of directors. The seven-member board will advise the company on planning and recruiting.