Poppi bet functional soda could go mainstream — and sold to PepsiCo for $1.95B

Prebiotic soda: fruit juice plus apple cider vinegar and prebiotic fiber, no more than 5g of sugar per can, sold in major US grocery chains.

That soda could be rebuilt around gut health and culture: if functional soda went mainstream, a soda giant would eventually have to buy the brand leading it.

$400k from Rohan Oza on Shark Tank for 25% (taped 2017), then venture rounds led by CAVU Consumer Partners from the seed onward.

Allison Ellsworth drank apple cider vinegar for her health, hated the taste, and started mixing sodas in her Texas kitchen around 2015. As Mother Beverage, she and her husband Stephen grossed roughly $500k in 18 months at DFW farmers markets and in Whole Foods and ~200 Albertsons stores, then pitched Shark Tank while nine months pregnant and took Rohan Oza's $400k for 25%.

Rebranded to Poppi in 2020 with bright cans and CAVU money behind it. A founder-story TikTok did ~1M views and $100k of Amazon sales overnight; Poppi bought a last-minute Super Bowl spot and was back for Super Bowl LIX in 2025. A June 2024 class action argued a can's 2g of prebiotic fiber was too little to matter; Poppi settled for $8.9M. On March 17, 2025, PepsiCo agreed to buy Poppi for $1.95B including $300M of anticipated cash tax benefits — a net $1.65B — plus an earnout.

PepsiCo closed the acquisition in 2025. Carlsberg Britvic, its UK partner, signed an exclusive retail deal to launch Poppi in Britain from early 2026, and PepsiCo framed Poppi as a billion-dollar-brand candidate. By 2026 co-founder Allison Ellsworth was back on Shark Tank as a guest investor.

Functional soda barely existed as a US shelf category in 2015; by 2025 PepsiCo paid $1.95B because its own soda drinkers were defecting to wellness-positioned drinks.

Distribution proof came before fame: 200 Albertsons listings gave Poppi real retail traction to build on before any TV or social moment.

The founder's own story was the cheapest growth channel — one honest TikTok outperformed paid media per dollar, which is what let a small brand afford Super Bowl reach.

The bet's weak point was the health claim itself: 'functional' invites scrutiny, and Poppi paid $8.9M to keep using the prebiotic label.

A CPG bet can be won on culture before scale: prove demand at farmers markets, let founder-made TikToks do the advertising, and a strategic buyer pays for the audience you built, not factories.

As of September 2026 Poppi runs inside PepsiCo Beverages. Carlsberg Britvic launched it in the UK from early 2026 after signing an exclusive retailer and fielding approaches from four or five major on-trade businesses. PepsiCo management continues to position Poppi as its functional-soda bet within its portfolio transformation. Allison Ellsworth has stayed public-facing: she returned to Shark Tank as a guest investor and talks about building her next venture from the Poppi platform.