Liquid Death, Los Angeles, has closed $67 million in financing from strategic partners and new investors including top national distributors, along with notable names in entertainment and sports.
“Liquid Death has become the fastest growing and leading brand across the water, flavored sparkling water, and iced tea categories. We continue to see extremely strong consumer and retailer demand and are proud to have raised a strategic, oversubscribed, ‘up’ round to fuel our growth,” said Mike Cessario, founder and CEO of Liquid Death, in a statement. “What began as appealing to inbound interest has culminated in a leading group of strategic investors from finance, entertainment and distribution backgrounds. This round, coupled with the appointment of Stephen Ballard, a seasoned sales executive and White Claw alum, will enable us to continue scaling a world-class distribution network to murder thirst and plastic bottles around the globe.”
The $1.4 billion valuation is a strong increase over prior funding rounds. Distributor investors include the No. 1 distributors in North Carolina, Oregon, Utah and Washington, and top distributors in other key markets around the country. New institutional investors include SuRo Capital alongside follow-on investors Live Nation, Science Inc., and Gray’s Creek Capital Partners. Other prominent investors in the round include actor Josh Brolin, NFL All-Pro and entrepreneur DeAndre Hopkins, The Chapelle Show co-creator Neal Brennan, Brazil’s largest metal band Sepultura’s Derrick Green, and Australian comedian Jim Jefferies.
Liquid Death hit $263 million in retail scanned sales through registers in 2023 and expanded to 113,000 retail doors across the United States and U.K. The company achieved more than triple-digit growth for the third consecutive year, becoming the fastest-growing top water and top iced tea brand, according to SPINS.
The company’s newest product lines, iced tea and flavored sparkling water, saw hypergrowth in 2023, it says. In just a few months after launch, Liquid Death became the second largest ready-to-drink tea on Amazon by total sales. Liquid Death’s flavor line is the top dollar contributor in the convenience channel to the flavored sparkling category despite being in the market for less than two years, it adds.
The funding will go toward product innovation as a multi-category beverage platform and scaling operations, the needs for which have been accelerated by higher than anticipated retailer demand for Liquid Death’s new flavored sparkling water flavors and iced tea flavors slated to launch this spring.
The news follows the launch of Death Dust, Liquid Death’s hydration sticks and first core product beyond the ready-to-drink beverage category. The brand also recently auctioned off the side of half a million cases via the viral Biggest Ad Ever campaign with the winning bid going to Coinbase for more than $500,000.
This summer Liquid Death will be prominent at music festivals, iconic music and entertainment venues and bars through its partnership with Live Nation, a longtime investor in the company, which also participated in this round.
