After several years of sustained growth, powdered hydration mix brand Liquid I.V. has been acquired by international CPG giant Unilever for an undisclosed fee, the company announced today.
Founded in 2012, California-based Liquid I.V. markets a powder-based “hydration multiplier” based on the World Health Organization’s guidelines for an Oral Rehydration Solution (ORS); according to the brand, one serving of Liquid I.V. can provide up to 2–3 times the hydration of water alone through the use of its proprietary Cellular Transport Technology (CTT) system. The company has since extended into other functional product lines, including Sleep and Energy, each coming in boxes of individually packaged single serving stick packets.
According to data from IRI, sales of Liquid I.V.’s core hydration line were up 274.2%, to around $8.4 million, year-over-year through August 18. The overall shelf-stable sports drink mix category grew 20.5% during the period to around $106.4 million.
“Liquid I.V. is an impressive and innovative brand in the fast-growing health, wellness and personal nutrition space,” said Fabian Garcia, president of Unilever North America, in a press release. “Liquid I.V. shares Unilever’s purpose to improve people’s health and well-being, as well as our ambition to create sustainable products that have a positive social impact. We are delighted to welcome Liquid I.V. to Unilever’s portfolio of purpose-driven brands.”
Liquid I.V. will remain based in El Segundo, Calif., and will continue under the leadership of CEO and founder Brandin Cohen, who told BevNET that Liquid I.V. will “keep on doing exactly what we are doing.” That strategy includes continuing to align product development with the brand’s commitment to sustainable packaging, as evidenced in the release of its first ever compostable hydration stick last month. New flavors and products are set to debut over the coming weeks and months.
“We want to create the best products that help people, do it as sustainably as possible, and to give back to people who are less fortunate,” said Cohen. “It was important for us that, if we were going to do [a sale], we wanted to do it with a group that has the same vision for helping people and the planet.”
The company has attracted a range of notable individual investors and private equity firms over the past three years as its growth has accelerated. Last year, the brand raised $5 million in a strategic funding round backed by celebrities including Justin Bieber, Kendall Jenner, Usher and James Corden, among others. Entertainment entrepreneur Scooter Braun, founder of media company SB Projects and manager to artists including Bieber and Ariana Grande, has been an investor in the brand since 2017 through his TQ Ventures group, which is also a backer of Bear’s Fruit Kombucha and cold-pressed watermelon juice brand WTRMLN WTR.
San Francisco-based investment group CircleUp Growth led a $5 million funding round for Liquid I.V. in 2018. The opportunity came about through a proprietary artificial intelligence system called Helio, which at the time showed Liquid I.V. had doubled its revenues in consecutive quarters and had strong “cross channel brand power.”
CircleUp managing director Ben Lee noted that the company has grown both its distribution presence and its top line revenue large enough to be attractive to a large CPG company like Unilever. Importantly, he added, it also has evolved its positioning from an athletic to a lifestyle brand that fits multiple everyday use occasions.
“There is a feeling that the company can be really relevant for a large strategic,” Lee said. “We found a partner that was really aligned in terms of their interest in the category.”