Athletic Greens Takes Outside Capital
Direct-to-consumer powdered beverage maker Athletic Greens announced this week that it has raised its first ever round of outside capital featuring celebrity and institutional investors. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The round was led by SC.Holdings, whose co-founder Jason Stein will join Athletic Greens’ board of directors. Other individual investors include Hugh Jackman, Cindy Crawford, Steve Aoki, Lewis Hamilton, Robin Arzon, Mike Posner, Shawn Johnson & Andrew East, Tim Ferriss, and Dr. Peter Attia, among others.
Founded in 2010, Athletic Greens produces powdered superfood smoothies and functional supplements. Driven primarily by subscription sales, the company said it has achieved a $100 million revenue run-rate.
Answering questions via email, founder and CEO Chris Ashenden said the company will primarily put the funding towards R&D and scaling operations ahead of anticipated demand.
“We see a significant opportunity to create more awareness for Athletic Greens beyond the large and loyal customer base we’ve already developed,” Ashenden said. “An acceleration of long term trends has created tailwinds for the business: the growing desire of people globally to take ownership of their own health and nutrition, the acceleration of digital commerce, consumer preferences for quality and simplicity, etc. Thanks to this investment and the support of our new investors, we are better positioned to capture the opportunity.”
Zevia Raises $149.8M as Public Trading Begins
Stevia-sweetened beverage maker Zevia debuted on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, offering 10.7 million shares priced at $14 each, raising just under $150 million for the company.
Trading under the ticker symbol ZVIA, the company began trading at the midpoint of its expected $13-$15 pricing range. The 10.7 million shares were reduced from a previous plan to offer 14.3 million shares, according to Marketwatch. Zevia has also granted underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 1.6 million additional shares.
The company announced that it planned to file for an IPO last month, following in the line of other health and wellness focused food and beverage brands going public, such as Oatly, Beyond Meat, Flow Alkaline Spring Water and Laird Superfoods.
In an email to BevNET, CEO Paddy Spence said the company plans to continue focusing on wellness and sustainability social impacts. Zevia has highlighted its use of recyclable aluminum packaging and has made sustainability a key pillar of its messaging as it goes public. As well, the company plans to continue innovating on flavor, Spence said, most recently launching a Creamy Root Beer SKU and two new Zevia Kidz products with Watermelon and Cran-Raspberry.
“We are continuing to focus on our core social impact pillars: reducing sugar, eliminating single-use plastic beverage packaging, and creating better-for-you products that are affordable for households of all income levels,” Spence said in an email. “These resulted in Zevia becoming a certified B Corp in the past couple of months, as well as a Public Benefit Corporation, focusing not only on shareholder returns, but also on public health and sustainability.”
In June, Zevia announced the addition of several executive appointments, including former Red Bull North America president and CMO Amy Taylor as president. The company has also named stevia expert Mel Jackson as SVP of innovation and Hany Mikhail as chief accounting officer.
Taylor brings over 20 years of beverage industry experience to the role, which Spence said will be highly beneficial to the brand as it moves forward.
“She will be focused on continuing our historical rapid growth in at-home consumption channels like Natural, Food/Drug/Mass and Ecommerce, expanding the Zevia brand into immediate consumption channels such as foodservice and convenience, and ultimately delivering a resonant global brand that meets the needs of consumers where they live, work and play,” Spence said.
The Plug Drink Raises $1.5M Seed Round
Hydration recovery beverage maker The Plug Drink announced this month that it has raised $1.5 million in a seed round featuring individuals including wish.com co-founder and CEO Peter Szulczewski, NBA star Myles Turner and Adriana Arce, who is the manager for singer Miley Cyrus, as well as institutional investors.
Other investors in the round include Bagel Boy Equity Group II; The Baine Companies; Lucy Guo, general partner of Backend Capital; Estars co-founder David Lee; Sonar Projects founder Nicholas Parasram; Emagen artist manager Bo Triplett; NFL player Troy Hill; PLL player Jack Near; actor Frankie Delgado; and Prizout and Dream Ventures founder Richard Blankenship.
According to Forbes, The Plug Drink — which is primarily sold online along with select liquor accounts — has seen monthly revenue grow 30%-50% since May 2020 and now plans to roll out into brick-and-mortar locations nationwide.