Canned water maker Liquid Death announced today it has raised $9 million in a Series A funding round led by Velvet Sea Ventures, bringing the company’s total funding to $11.25 million.
The round includes first time investments from Ring founder Jamie Siminoff, TOMS Shoes co-founders Jake Strom and Blake Mycoskie, GirlBoss founder and CEO Sophia Amoruso and Thrive Market CEO Nick Green, as well as participation from existing investors Science Inc. and Away co-founder Jen Rubio.
Speaking with BevNET, Liquid Death co-founder and CEO Mike Cessario said the company was “very selective” about which investors it chose to work with and turned away several opportunities “because they weren’t a great fit.” Most of the investors, he said, have strong brand building experience and will play a hands-on role in guiding the direction of the company.
“They’re the kind of investors we can call at any time when we have a question or when we want their input on something,” Cessario told BevNET. “They’re not just going to sit back and not be involved. All of our investors have been clear they’re down to help whenever we need it.”
According to Cessario, the round will primarily help the brand to build out its sales team ahead of national expansion in retail and on-premise outlets this year and will also help to increase manufacturing output.
“We started out last year with direct-to-consumer for a variety of reasons,” Cessario said. “With a brand like Liquid Death, we kind of wanted to launch the brand on our own terms and prove there’s a lot of people who wanted it before we were going to go into the more traditional retail channels where you have to be selling it in and convincing buyers it’s going to be good.”
Liquid Death made its first entry into retail last spring, launching several tests in c-stores despite not having a full sales team in place. The brand is currently available in about 2,000 accounts nationwide including retail chains such as 7-Eleven and on-premise locations including bars and nightclubs.
Cessario compared Liquid Death’s brick-and-mortar strategy to Red Bull’s approach to building brand equity by simultaneously targeting up-and-down the street accounts, national chains and nightclubs. The brand, which sources its water from mountain springs, has also found its way onto some cocktail menus with bars offering Liquid Death as a premium addition to absinthe and whiskey orders. Cessario also noted that Liquid Death’s white and gold packaging (complete with melting skull insignia) resemble beer cans, making the water a “much cooler” non-alcoholic alternative for sober drinkers or consumers looking to “take a break” from drinking during a night out.
“People aren’t just buying it for the liquid inside, it’s essentially an icebreaker,” he said. “If you drink it at your office or at your gym, two to three people are going to come up to you and start a conversation. There’s value to that, especially in a social environment like a bar. It’s not just ‘I want your water cause it has point-five more electrolytes than the other water.’”
In March, Liquid Death will roll out to Whole Foods stores nationwide. Though the brand identity may at first seem out of place in the natural channel, Cessario said the product has had a “massive halo effect” with a variety of consumers.
“About a month ago we had a direct message come in on Instagram from a woman who was like ‘I’m a 37 year old bougie white girl that loves Taylor Swift, but I love Liquid Death,’” he said. “Anyone with a little weirdness or a little bit of a rebel in them really gravitate towards the brand and that has helped us to understand where the opportunity might be. But also, I shop at Whole Foods. I have friends in the heaviest of metal bands who shop at Whole Foods because they’re vegan or they really care about health, but there’s not exactly many brands in Whole Foods that are speaking to that kind of crowd or have that vibe.”
Also in March, the company will launch its first new SKU, an unflavored sparkling water available in a black and gold can.
This month, Liquid Death will begin its “Keep the Underworld Beautiful” marketing campaign, which will include video advertisements aimed at pushing the brand’s sustainability message. The company has previously promoted the benefits of recyclable aluminum packaging with its “Death to Plastic” slogan and also donates a portion of its proceeds to nonprofits 5 Gyres and Thirst Project which work to reduce plastic pollution.
According to Cessario, while many brands with similar environmentalist messaging have emphasized guilt to encourage consumers to recycle, the goal of the campaign is to make sustainability exciting and engaging.
“My point of view is if you truly want change to happen you have to make the change fun,” he said. “People have enough stuff to worry about. They don’t want to see your depressing ad guilting them into change and they don’t want to bum their friends and family out by sharing something that’s really sad that with them. We want people to be excited about it. We want people to wear a ‘Death to Plastic’ t-shirt and get behind the cause and make it fun.”