London-based CBD-infused drink brand TRIP has closed a $5 million funding round ahead of its U.S. launch this week.
What is TRIP?
Created in 2019 by the husband and wife team of Olivia Ferdi and Daniel Khoury, TRIP is one of the early entrants to the CBD beverage market in the United Kingdom. The brand offers four SKUs: a cold brew coffee and three varieties of flavored sparkling water — Elderflower Mint, Peach Ginger and Lemon Basil — each infused with 15 mg of CBD per 8.5 oz. can, plus herbs and botanicals including turmeric, ginseng, lemon balm and L-theanine. TRIP also markets two types of CBD tinctures — Wild Mint and Orange Blossom, both blended with chamomile and available in 500mg or 1500mg varieties — in recyclable 15ml bottles. U.K. regulations do not allow for CBD to be extracted from hemp within the country’s borders, so TRIP sources it from the United States.
Upon launching, Ferdi and Khoury found themselves as one of the early pioneers in integrating CBD into consumer-friendly CPG products of any kind.
“For a drinks brand here, it’s very important to be seen as a CBD specialist, which is where our tinctures have helped us a lot on the drinks side and vice-versa,” said Khoury. “It’s such a new topic here and there’s so much more education to do from our side that I think this whole conversation around CBD in general, whether tinctures or drinks, is more easily done with a 360-degree CBD company.”
Both TRIP’s drinks and tinctures are sold primarily online through its own direct-to-consumer platform as well as through quick-delivery apps like Deliveroo. But the brand has also begun to build a presence at brick-and-mortar stores, starting with well-known boutiques like Selfridges and Harvey Nichols and later moving to mainstream retailers like Sainsbury’s. The products are sold at 2,000 locations worldwide, including at select Equinox fitness studios.
The brand has also secured an exclusive partnership with Soho House, a global chain of private clubs aimed at the creative set which operates hotels, bars, gyms and spas across 27 locations in 10 countries. TRIP products will be stocked in-room and available on-site at all Soho House properties.
“We assessed CBD brands globally to find the best partner for Soho House. TRIP is a great brand that creates the best CBD products we’ve ever tasted, that fit exactly into the Soho House lifestyle” said Tom Kerr, Soho House Beverage Director, in a press release.
“People assumed it was going to be very niche, but because people find it helps them feel whatever they are needing to feel — whether that’s a reset or an unwind or to refocus — they are becoming repeat buyers,” said Ferdi. “It’s mad to think that we’re a brand that’s playing in a Soho House and a Sainsbury’s. But people want it — they are speaking with their pounds.”
Who else is getting involved?
TRIP’s recently closed $5 million investment round features a pair of key strategic investors: Maria Raga, CEO of fashion resale app Depop, and entrepreneur/investor Christian Angermayer, founder of atai Life Sciences.
“Depop is a very strong and unique proposition in terms of the future of peer-to-peer commerce and perspectives from millennial and Gen Z, which I think is really exciting,” said Ferdi. “With Christian, he has done a lot of very powerful investor work across all sorts of exciting biosciences and psychedelics. For us, being able to work closely with those sorts of individuals and other partners in this round is going to completely open our eyes to the synergies and the shifting behaviors across those two fields.”
What is TRIP’s U.S. strategy?
TRIP has just flipped the switch on its U.S. direct-to-consumer business on Tuesday, but the brand is already plotting out its next moves: hiring a U.S. team to branch into specific states on the East and West Coast. The brand also plans to introduce multiple products specifically for the U.S. market, though they declined to offer further details.
TRIP is available now for nationwide shipping in 6-packs ($27) and 12-packs ($45) at us.drink-trip.com.