Liquid Death

It may be making a killing in the U.S., but Liquid Death turned up DOA across the pond.

In this week’s new products roundup, Organic Valley ventures into oat-based creamers, Premier Protein unveils a line of dessert-inspired protein shakes and Pepsi adds a new flavor to its permanent portfolio.

As it looks to scale up to meet fast-rising demand for new innovations, Liquid Death announced this morning it has closed a $67 million funding round at a valuation of $1.4 billion. The financing adds to the more than $200.6 million the better-for-you beverage maker has raised since 2019, while the new valuation is double the $700 million valuation it touted following its Series D round closed in 2022.

The “entertainment-first” beverage maker is the latest brand to jump into the rapidly expanding hydration category with today’s announcement of Death Dust, which adapts three of the most popular flavors from its sparkling waters – Severed Lime, Mango Chainsaw and Convicted Melon – into electrolyte drink mixes.

As the brand’s footprint surpasses 100,000 doors across the U.S. and U.K., Liquid Death has named Stephen Ballard, a sales professional with over 25 years of experience in the alcohol space, as its first Chief Commercial Officer.

Earlier this month, a report that the metalhead-approved canned water maker Liquid Death had hired Goldman Sachs to lead a possible IPO sent some heavy reverb through the financial and CPG worlds.

Functional soda maker OLIPOP has announced the launch of its first ad campaign, “Real Love Makes Us,” starring Grammy-nominated singer and songwriter Camila Cabello.

Liquid Death is being valued at $700 million after a $70 million Series D funding round backed by Science Inc, Whitney Cummings and others.

Liquid Death will pay stores a monthly volume-based sponsorship fee to allow accounts to purchase product through Amazon or other retailers, which can then be resold at the standard SRP.

As the company plans for significant scaling over the next several years, Liquid Death has hired former Marisa Bertha as Senior Vice President of Strategy to help chart the path forward; California-based alkaline water brand Eternal Water announced this week that it has tripled its sales force with more than 30 new hires; Lifeway Foods has announced its slate of director nominees.

Siempre Tequila has introduced a virtual Bored Ape brand ambassador, marking the beginning of a push into web3 integration; Liquid Death sells out its Murder Head Death Club NFT line; evian introduces a limited NFT artist collaboration; Mid-Day Squares sells its Hershey diss video as NFTs.

The California-based canned water maker announced this week that it has raised $75 million in a Series C round led by startup studio Science Inc. The new funding brings the brand’s total financing to about $125 million since its founding in 2018 and is aimed at helping the company scale its presence in the conventional channel and support a new flavored sparkling water line launching at the end of this month.

America is going back to the movies, and so are brands. This week, two bottled water companies are making cinematic debuts with new marketing campaigns, each using the movies to drive home brand stories about sustainability. Liquid Death stars in Dead Till Death and FIJI Water gets a new score from Hans Zimmer.

This week, the California-based brand announced it has closed a $23 million Series B funding round led by an unnamed family office. The round also saw participation from Convivialite Ventures, punk musician Fat Mike of the band NOFX, sports analyst Pat McAfee and prior investor Velvet Sea Ventures, among others.