Though the entrepreneurs and judges may have been miles apart, the Showdown must go on.
Twelve beverage startups competed today in the New Beverage Showdown 19 Semifinals, an online pitch slam held ahead of BevNET and NOSH Virtually Live which will take place June 23 and 24. Six finalists were chosen to move on to the next round.
The finalists included an array of functional and better-for-you beverage brands, including sparkling adaptogenic drink Dewdrop, Japanese flash-chilled coffee Muira, relaxation beverage Moment, superfruit water Pricklee, ginger-powered hydration drink Recoup and tonic brand Wildwonder. The brands will compete in the final round for a chance to win a $10,000 ad package.
The brands emerged from a field that also included sparkling water Angry Seltzer, shelf-stable juice shot Benni, Asian-inspired sparkling water Sanzo, olive leaf tea brand Special Leaf Tea, baobab drink Teranga and hemp kombucha Vibe Life.
Judges for the semifinal round included BevNET CMO Mike Schneider, Little Big Brands partner Crystal Bennett, startup investor and advisor Patrick Schwarzenegger, and Eric Kacker, director of competitive & marketplace at The Coca-Cola Company.
Coca-Cola’s Venturing and Emerging Brands Unit (VEB) served as the official sponsor of New Beverage Showdown 19.
Pitching their products over a livestream, the finalists presented a number of new twists on emerging trends. Brands such as Moment and Dewdrop built on the growing demand for relaxation beverages — a need state that both founders and judges argued was urgent based on the uncertainty created by the COVID-19 pandemic — while products such as Recoup and Pricklee focused on health and wellness through natural ingredients.
“I think some of the stronger brands we saw today really captured the consumer zeitgeist that’s going on right now,” Kacker said on the livestream. “They’re playing in very well known spaces but still offering us something new. We saw a new experience in coffee today, we saw several new experiences in sparkling water, several attempts at kombucha; So places that we’ve seen the last three or four years nothing new in terms of the category they’re innovating in, but the way they’re doing it and the propositions they’re bringing to the moment feel very, very timely.”
The New Beverage Showdown 19 champion will be announced following the final round on Thursday. The winner will join past New Beverage Showdown champions including Corsa, HopTea, CANN, Tio Gazpacho, RISE Brewing Co., Health-Ade, and MALK, among others.
The final round of pitches can be viewed live on BevNET.com beginning at 3:30 p.m. EST on June 11. The winner will be announced at the end of the day.