Eria, a luxury hospitality and events company, is talking with potential investors about a 20% minority investment that would primarily fund acquisitions, CEO and sole owner Nikita Khandheria said.

The discussions follow Eria’s pivot over the past year from food manufacturing and distribution to luxury event venues, event planning, concierge services, hospitality, private travel coordination, and curated luxury experiences.

The Sausalito, California-based company is not running a formal process but would ideally like to complete an investment within around four months. An ideal investor would be a well-regarded high-net-worth individual who could provide capital and additional market credibility. Khandheria said she would prefer a private investor to debt and does not expect to pursue institutional capital.

The 24-year-old executive, who founded Eria in May 2024, has already received interest from individual restaurant and hospitality investors

The company plans to use the proceeds from a minority stake sale to fund acquisitions. It is in talks to acquire the business-development operations and client rosters of two US event-planning businesses, with potential deal values of USD 10m-USD 15m. One target focuses on political events and the other on aviation and airline events, Khandheria said.

Acquisitions could provide Eria with an established reputation and client relationships, potentially overcoming reluctance among some major prospective clients to hire the company because of Khandheria’s age and its short operating history.

Eria projects USD 15m in venue revenue by the end of 2026, plus approximately USD 3m from event planning outside its venues, according to Khandheria. It aims to reach USD 25m in revenue by the end of 2027, ideally by mid-2027, she said.

The company has been profitable since inception and has an approximately 73% gross margin, Khandheria said. She expects its 2026 EBITDA margin to approach 50%.

Khandheria told this news service in June 2025 that Eria was looking to acquire grocery stores and logistics companies and may consider a USD 15m minority stake sale to private equity in mid-2026.

That focus changed after Eria sold its Judy’s Breadsticks business in December to an individual with a private equity background in consumer packaged goods, who renamed the business Judy’s Table, Khandheria said for this report. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Teri Craft, a business broker with Berkshire Hathaway Commercial, advised Eria on the sale, Khandheria said.

At the time of the sale, Judy’s held two unfulfilled national contracts worth USD 10m each. Because fulfillment had not begun, only a portion of their potential value was reflected in the transaction, Khandheria said. Eria acquired Judy’s for approximately USD 200,000 in 2024, she added.

Khandheria was initially “on the fence” about selling because Judy’s was a strong, cash-generating business. However, the operation was becoming too large and logistics-intensive, with less emphasis on the business-development and event-planning work Khandheria enjoys, she said.

The CEO used the proceeds to buy out investors in Eria’s restaurant business and acquire a lodging facility in Corte Madera, California.

Eria now has three California venues: Sausalito, Corte Madera, and San Francisco’s Marina District. It plans to launch a fourth venue outside California in approximately three months, Khandheria said.

The Sausalito location generated USD 6m in revenue in its first year, from approximately mid-2025 to mid-2026, while Corte Madera generated USD 2m, according to Khandheria. The San Francisco Marina venue signed USD 3m in sales during its first two weeks, she added.

Eria aims to lease or acquire at least 10 additional “iconic” US venues over three years, adding approximately one every three months, the CEO said.

The company plans events domestically and internationally, including in Dubai, and has produced events for companies including Anthropic and Webflow, Khandheria said. Eria initially is focusing on luxury events, such as high-end weddings, but is expanding into more mainstream, lower-priced events.

The event-planning market is fragmented, Khandheria noted. Other wedding and social-event players include Colin Cowie Lifestyle, while corporate and experiential-event peers include PRA Events and Trademark.

Eria has 10 full-time employees and a network of approximately 100 to 150 event planners, chefs, caterers, and other contract workers. It uses law firms K&L Gates and Nixon Peabody.