Pepsi to pay $1.7bn for a soft-drink company that got its start on ‘Shark Tank’

PepsiCo said Monday it will pay about $1.7 billion for a soft-drink company that built up a social-media following after being featured on “Shark Tank,” as the beverage giant works to appeal to millennials and Gen Z with healthier offerings. PepsiCo (PEP) plans to tap into Poppi’s positioning as a “better-for-you” soda company offering prebiotic drinks with less than five grams of sugar per serving. With its sale price to Pepsi at $1.7 billion, Poppi ranks as one of the more successful businesses to be featured on ABC’s (DIS) “Shark Tank,” which just wrapped up its 16th season as a showcase for entrepreneurs making pitches to a panel of tough-talking venture capitalists including Mark Cuban and Barbara Corcoran.
Other “Shark Tank” standouts include Bombas, a sock brand that won $1 million in backing on the show in 2014 and has since reported $1.3 billion in cumulative sales. Another was Ring, a doorbell maker that appeared on the program in 2013 that later won backing from basketball star Shaquille O’Neil before being bought by Amazon.com (AMZN) for about $1 billion in 2018. Scub Daddy, a sponge maker featured on the show in 2012, has since reported cumulative sales of $925 million. As for Poppi, which was featured on the show in 2018, the brand was big enough to advertise during the Super Bowl in 2024, and it did so again this year.
“What originally started as a home-brewed concoction quickly became a farmers’ market favorite turned ‘Shark Tank’ investment and is now available at major retailers nationwide,” Pepsi and Poppi said. The company was launched by husband-and-wife team Stephen and Allison Ellsworth in Austin, Texas. The drink the Ellsworths initially called “Mother” features ingredients aimed at improving digestive health, such as apple-cider vinegar. After it was featured on “Shark Tank,” Poppi drew in millions of dollars in investments from celebrities, with endorsements from Jennifer Lopez, singer Billie Eilish and actress Mila Kunis as well as exposure on the “Drew Barrymore Show.” Prebiotics are ingredients that aim to nourish the “good” bacteria in the gut that help with digestion and overall health. Pepsi’s stock rose 1.8% on Monday. The stock is down 0.6% so far in 2025, while the S&P 500 SPX is down about 3.9%.
*Dow Jones Newswires