Olipop, a popular prebiotic soda brand, announced that it raised $50 million in Series C funding at a $1.85 billion valuation according to CNBC. The Series C funding round was led by J.P. Morgan Private Capital’s Growth Equity Partners.
Olipop launched in 2018, which has helped drive prebiotic sodas’ popularity. The company plans to use the funding round to add to a product lineup, expand marketing, and distribute sodas widely.
Based on dollar sales and unit growth, Olipop is one of the top nonalcoholic beverage brands in the U.S. And in early 2024, Olipop reached profitability, the company. The name Olipop is a portmanteau of the prebiotic fiber oligosaccharide (oli) and pop, a common name for soft drinks.
Ben Goodwin started creating a soft drink after leaving a kombucha company in 2008. And he spent about $300,000 of his personal savings on this drink, working in a lab with a microbiologist.
The drink was originally called Obi and it launched in 2012. About a year later, Goodwin met David Lester in a coffee shop. They agreed to partner in making Obi and in 2016, the two sold Obi for an undisclosed amount after it failed to gain traction. Then they went on to work on Olipop.
Ben Goodwin and David Lester created Olipop in 2018 with an initial investment of $100,000, taken from the sale of Obi. The drink was first released in three flavors: ginger lemon, strawberry vanilla, and cinnamon cola.
In its first year in Northern California, it sold in 40 grocery stores and reached $852,000 in gross revenue.
The company raised a $39.7 million Series B funding round in 2022. And the investors in that round included Gwyneth Paltrow, Mindy Kaling, and the Jonas Brothers.
CNBC had reported that Olipop’s annual sales surpassed $400 million last year, doubling the previous year.
