The first (1876), commercially successful instant coffee brand was Camp Coffee out of Scotland. Nescafe entered the market in 1938 with a better tasting coffee and relatively low retails and took over as the main brand in the category.
Bonus trivia. Vacuum packed, freeze dried coffee, was invented right after WWII. The technology was owned by a company called: Florida Foods so then another company bought Florida Foods and at the same time changed their name to be more marketable across the entire U.S. What is this company's name? Minute Maid.