Instant Brands
Instant Pot Brands is a company selling a range of kitchen appliances. Founded in 2009 by Robert Wang, Yi Qin, and three Canadian partners, it is the distributor and designer of Instant Pot and other products under the Instant Brands name.
Headquartered in Downers Grove, Illinois, the firm and its affiliates design, manufacture and market small kitchen appliances worldwide. Previously, its subsidiaries were merged and consolidated under the name Instant Pot Brands.
The company's original and primary products are electronically controlled, combined pressure cookers and slow cookers. The original cookers are marketed as 6-in-1 or more appliances designed to consolidate the cooking and preparing of food to one device. The brand has since expanded to include non-pressure slow cookers, sous-vide immersion circulators, blenders, air fryers, and rice cookers.
History
In 2008, Robert Wang, Yi Qin, and one other friend, all former employees of Nortel in Ottawa, Canada, started working on designs for the Instant Pot. Wang is credited as the inventor of the Instant Pot.Founded by Wang, Qin, and their friends in 2009 as Double Insight, the company became profitable three years later, with Instant Pot as its main product. In 2016, DI sold more than 215,000 Instant Pots on Amazon's Prime Day.
After the firm reached a merger agreement with Corelle Brands on March 4, 2019, it was reported that Corelle's chief executive would hold the same title at the merged company, while Wang would be its "chief innovative officer". Given this, it would be headquartered in Downers Grove, Illinois and owned by Cornell Capital.
In June 2023, Instant Brands filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after high interest rates and waning access to credit hit its cash position and made its debts unsustainable. It sold its appliance business to the private equity firm Centre Lane Partners during bankruptcy. The remaining housewares business exited bankruptcy separately on February 27, 2024 under the prior Corelle Brands moniker.
In November 2023, Instant Pot Brands was established as a standalone company with a new capital structure under new ownership following its purchase by an affiliate of CLP.
In February 2024, the bankruptcy court approved the company's restructuring plan. On April 1, 2024 the company announced it had changed its name and would be doing business as Instant Pot Brands along with the announcement of a new Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Human Resources Officer, and Executive Vice President.