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Angel Investor Returns: $1.95B Poppi deal š„¤
Ruffin Mitchener
March 30, 2025
In case you missed itā¦Allison Ellsworth just sold her company Poppi to pepsi for $1.95B just 10 years after she created the original recipe in her kitchen!! Poppi doesn't just sell a productāAllison created a movement that legacy soda brands struggle to build.
In 2015, Allison, struggling with gut issues, found apple cider vinegar was the only thing that helped, but she hated the taste. Experimenting in her kitchen, Allison developed a recipe combining real fruit with apple cider vinegar with less than five grams of sugar ā offering digestion support, immune benefits, and a healthy alternative to traditional sodas.
Within just three weeks of selling at a Dallas farmers market, they were approached by Whole Foods. And then, in 2018, Allison and her co-founder and husband Stephen pitched on Shark Tank, landing a deal with Rohan Oza, a former Coca-Cola exec. Rohan invested $400K for 25% ownership, valuing the company at $1.6M. Meaning he's likely made somewhere in the hundreds millions on this single investment.
Poppi nailed the timing of the functional beverage market, which reached $134 billion in 2024 and is projected to grow to $231 billion by 2033. Today Poppi is one of the fastest-growing beverage brands in the U.S., generating more than $100 million in revenue and sold in over 120 retailers. As competitors like Olipop reached a $2 billion valuation and Coca-Cola launched its own version, Simply Pop.
Much of Poppiās success was defined by their influencer strategy creating cultural significance and founder-led TikTok strategy like a single video created by Allison that amassed over 50M views and sold 100,000 cans overnight ā landing them over $50M in venture funding.
