Better-for-you soda startup No Cap (stylized “NO CAP!”) is raising the ante on its co-branded collaboration strategy by partnering with the ICEE Company for a three-year licensing deal to license the slush brand’s name and flavors.
The collaboration will roll out in January as a limited offering with Blue Raspberry and Cola flavors, among others, each made with zero sugar, zero caffeine and added electrolytes in 16 oz. cans.
The partnership with ICEE, a subsidiary of J&J Snack Foods, follows No Caps’ first brand licensing agreement earlier this year with gummy producer Albanese Confectionary Group, which co-founder Sam Wilson told us “sold out rather instantly.”
According to Wilson, who created No Cap with his son Vinny Wilson, the ICEE LTOs will launch in retailers like Chevron Extra Mile, Albertsons Express, five divisions of Kroger, HyVee and Walmart among others.
He noted that in convenience, the partnership is significant, as ICEE already has a strong presence in that channel with its on-premise slush machines, creating opportunities for tie-in promotions and merchandising.
“It’s definitely one of our core initiatives to continue to grow licensing in a strategic way,” he said. “We’re locked up for 2026, we have a very strong LTO plan to continue the level of excitement.”
The licensing strategy has become commonplace in non-alc beverages, tapping into nostalgia, brand awareness and consumer curiosity through co-branded flavor innovations to generate trial and incremental sales. The trend has been used to great effect by energy drink brands such as Ghost, C4 and Ryse Fuel – which have respectively debuted flavors based on a myriad of candies like Sour Patch Kids, Skittles and Ring Pops.
In an increasingly crowded modern soda category, No Cap is now hoping its own co-branded lineups can help it to stand out amidst far larger category leaders like Poppi and Olipop.
“We’ve always, since the beginning, with our branding alone, have spoken to a different consumer,” said Vinny Wilson.
According to Vinny Wilson, No Cap dropped gut health properties in its formula this year to focus solely on hydration as its functional benefit, while aiming to tailor its branding to a younger demographic that is “three to 30” years old.
“We pound our chest on that triple zero – the zero sugar, zero caffeine, zero calorie,” he said. “It absolutely allows us to communicate and relate to not just my generation, which is Gen Z as a buyer, but that next generation all the way on the cusp down to that three-year-old Timmy or the five-year-old Stacy or 10-year-old Tommy.”
To allow No Cap to reach those youngest consumers, Vinny Wilson said the company is also now introducing 7.5 oz. cans in 8-packs.
Since launching last year, No Cap has grown its retail footprint to around 4,000 doors in 45 states and is distributing via DSD houses like Hensley in Arizona, Silver Eagle in Texas and other Anheuser-Busch connected distributors, Sam Wilson said.
Looking ahead, No Cap will also begin raising a Series A round of funding next month. The company previously announced a $3 million funding round this summer, and Sam Wilson said the next raise will go towards amplifying the brand’s distribution, marketing and innovation pipeline.
“We definitely understand that capital is necessary,” he said. “The space is not easy to navigate with limited capital, but because of some of the partnerships that we have and a lot of the excitement we have, we know we have to be well-funded.”