This is HUGE! Starbuck’s founder Howard Schultz’s VC firm just kicked down a frosty $27.5 million to frozen yogurt darling Pinkberry! Does this mean that Northern California will be seeing their first Pinkberry locations popping up soon? We can only dream.

Here’s Matthew Boyle’s Fortune article with all of the details but no mention of a time frame for expansion. A quick check of the Pinkberry site reveals a new message under the “franchise” information link that says: watch this page for future updates. For now we can only continue to hit refresh for updates on the new store locations page. Drool.

(Fortune) — Red-hot frozen yogurt chain Pinkberry has received a $27.5 million infusion of cash from Starbucks founder Howard Schultz’s venture capital firm, Fortune has learned.

The deal, which will be announced later today, confirms long-held speculation that Seattle-based Maveron - whose prior investments include eBay, drugstore.com, and Good Technology, now owned by Motorola - sees a bright future for Pinkberry, which was launched two years ago by a failed restaurateur and a former nightclub bouncer. (See story here.)

Schultz was not available to comment, but in a press release touting the deal he called Pinkberry founders Shelly Hwang and Young Lee “visionary entrepreneurs” and labeled their brand “a cultural phenomenon.”

The burgeoning chain now has 32 stores in New York and Los Angeles, and plans to grow by expanding its roster of company-owned stores and franchises. Hwang and Lee told Fortune earlier this year that they hope to have 50 locations by year-end. Stores in Las Vegas and London are also on tap.

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