Leading Liquid Death’s Series D
By Peter Pham
We’re thrilled to share our Studio and Fund II holding Liquid Death has raised a $70M Series D round valued at $700M with Science as the lead.
We led Liquid Death’s seed, series C and series D rounds — we are incredibly enamored with cultural brand that the cofounder & CEO, Mike Cessario, is building and are seeing growth metrics unlike anything we’ve ever seen before.
We believe Liquid Death may be the fastest growing non-alcoholic beverage of all time. From our research, it took Monster four years and Celsius 12 years to reach the level of retail success Liquid Death has had in just three. Liquid Death is projecting $130M in revenue in 2022, up from $45M in 2021 and is on pace to double next year.
The funding follows another exponential year for the brand — Liquid Death launched a line of flavored sparkling waters and quickly expanded its market leadership into the new category. It is currently the #1 still water and # 2 sparkling water on Amazon, the largest retailer in the country with 69% repeat customers. After 6 months in the market, new flavors are adding 40% in new online revenue and are outselling Aha and Bubly in 7-Eleven. Liquid Death’s beverages are now carried in 60,000 stores across the U.S., compared to 16,000 a year ago.
Mike and his team have created a cultural zeitgeist with a loyal fan base through creative and comedic campaigns that rival SNL. They’ve leveraged social like no one else I’ve ever seen. Liquid Death is #1 most followed beverage brand on TikTok in the U.S., and their content has earned more than 21 billion media impressions in the past year with 2x the engagement of Red Bull, who previously held the crown.
Like Tesla moved drivers toward better-for-the-planet EVs through sleek a great product and brand that became part of culture. Liquid Death is moving people toward healthier and sustainable drinking options, not by preaching to them, but by entertaining them and making them a part of something bigger in culture. People are shifting their consumption habits away from unhealthy sodas, energy drinks and alcohol and cutting out plastic thanks to Liquid Death while having more fun.
With this momentum, the company is beginning to lay the groundwork for the IPO path in case it makes sense for the business as well as expand into Europe. We’re incredibly excited to be a partner for them on whatever path the future takes us.
The round is a milestone event both for Liquid Death and for us — it’s our first ever series D investment and our first time leading a series D round. The investment reiterates our commitment to a barbell approach — we get in at idea inception on the ground floor with founders and invest in late stage businesses where we see strong economics and growth.
Congratulations to Liquid Death, and we’re honored to deepen our partnership and continue this growth trajectory together.
