Known for making dried fruit-based sour candies inspired by vintage video games, Final Boss Snacks Inc. just landed a $4 million investment to fuel major expansions into seven retail channels.

The snack startup, incubated by Santa Monica-based venture capital firm Science Inc. in 2023, began as a digital venture designed to tap into both consumer appetites and the American cultural fabric. Intimately tied to the idea of ’90s nostalgia – when both video games and sour candies had a moment of glory – the brand sought to compete with industry leaders from Sour Patch Kids to Trolli and Nerds with more sourness and better taste, said co-founder James Hicks.

“I’ve always loved sour candy… and I realized that sour candy as a category has not changed in the past 30 years,” Hicks told the Business Journal, “In the same way that the spicy world unlocked the pepper to elicit these loud, social, viral interactions, I thought I could do the same with things that were naturally sour.”

Previously focusing on e-commerce channels such as Amazon.com Inc. and TikTok Shop from TikTok USDS Joint Venture, Final Boss Sour products will soon come on the shelves of Walmart Inc., The Kroger Co., H-E-B Grocery Co., Wegmans Food Markets Inc. and Hy-Vee Inc. Future launches at Target Corp. and 7-Eleven Inc. are also slated for the fall.

Social first, retail later

Attention is a rare commodity, and Final Boss Sour caught a chance to capitalize on it.

Hicks and his “small and mighty” team of eight decided early on that they would start talking to retailers only after their social media hit a billion video views, which they achieved last August. The videos, scripted as sketches, were designed to go viral and generate culture awareness through entertainment. Once a customer recognizes a brand from TikTok down the aisles of Walmart, Hicks said, “that’ll help aid in the purchase.”

Final Boss Sour is not the only retail company that realizes the importance of grabbing the consumer’s attention first. Its sister startups incubated by Science Inc., Supplying Demand Inc. (which owns the brand Liquid Death) and Dollar Shave Club Inc. used the same playbook of turning social media fame into product popularity. Other companies such as The Wendy’s Co. also gained considerable publicity through its online presence – one cheeky tweet at a time.