Pop-Up Bagels is the bagel category's venture-capital story: Stripes took majority control in October 2025, Tiger Global invested five months later at a $300M valuation — five times higher — and founder Adam Goldberg now holds the Chief Brand Officer title while a career franchise executive runs the company. The growth plan is 300 signed franchise units on the way to 100 open locations by the end of 2027. Each franchise will be locally owned, but the brand answers to its investors — and the pace of the expansion is set by the valuation that has to be earned back.