Led · Equity · Mar 2024

Liquid Death sells canned water with irreverent, alcohol‑inspired branding and packaging, positioning itself as a healthier alternative while borrowing marketing and shelf strategies from beer. The brand places product not only on grocery shelves but also at events, bars, restaurants and conferences to reach social occasions. Liquid Death has been framed by investors and industry observers as a potential disruptor to legacy beverage players like Coke and Pepsi. The company reported $263 million in sales in 2023 and has attracted significant venture capital despite the capital‑intensive nature of the beverage category. Investors have noted the brand’s cultural relevance and repeat‑purchase potential as reasons to back it. The company has raised more than $267 million in venture funding to date. Liquid Death is a direct-to-consumer beverage company that sells canned sparkling water. It positions itself as a premium, personality-driven brand with distinctive metal-inspired can design and marketing that courts a death-metal/frat bro cohort. The company is on track for $130 million in revenue in 2022, up from $45 million the prior year, per Bloomberg reporting cited in the article. TechCrunch notes a 12-pack of Liquid Death tallboys retails for about $16 on Amazon (over $1 per can), which the article suggests supports relatively strong gross margins. The company is expanding into new flavor verticals (the article cites a hypothetical “Berry It Alive” flavor) as part of its growth plans. The piece frames water as a very large TAM and presents the brand’s rapid top-line growth and premium pricing as justification for investor interest. Liquid Death sells canned mountain water sourced from the Alps and markets itself with a punk-metal, humorous brand voice. The company launched in 2018 and is based in Los Angeles. It is now carried in more than 29,000 U.S. locations, including Whole Foods, Target, Safeway and 7‑Eleven, and revenue reached nearly $45 million last year. Liquid Death is beginning to roll out flavored waters (Berry It Alive, Severed Lime and Mango Chainsaw) sweetened with agave, each with three grams of sugar and about 20 calories. The brand emphasizes aluminum cans as more recyclable than plastic and relies on organic, viral marketing stunts and celebrity tie‑ins, such as Tony Hawk. Distribution gains on Amazon—moving to wholesale terms—have boosted sales, and the company noted ACV penetration was approaching about 9% at the end of 2021. Liquid Death sells mountain water in recyclable aluminum cans and has built a viral, irreverent brand around the tagline “murder your thirst.” The company is four years old, based in Los Angeles, and now employs about 60 people. Its distribution footprint includes roughly 16,000 U.S. locations, from bars and tattoo parlors to Whole Foods, Walmart and 7‑Eleven, and the product is also available in Canada. Cessario says the business has seen strong growth in retail and online channels over the past year. The team is not pursuing international expansion immediately and is instead focused on the U.S. and Canada, while exploring limited‑release flavor ideas for later in the year. As a maturing startup, Liquid Death says it now has more access to favorable debt terms for working capital if needed. Liquid Death is a Santa Monica-based beverage startup selling mountain water sourced from the Austrian Alps in aluminum cans, offered as still and sparkling. The brand uses heavy-metal-inspired, irreverent marketing (including the slogan “murder your thirst”) and also sells branded merchandise such as T-shirts and hoodies. Products are sold direct-to-consumer and through retail channels, including Whole Foods and more than 1,000 7-Eleven stores in California. A 12-pack of tallboys is priced at $16 and a “Hydrate or Die” T-shirt at $26. The company was incubated with help from the LA startup studio Science and is led by founder Mike Cessario, a former West Coast agency executive. Financially, Liquid Death has now raised a little more than $34 million in total funding following its latest round.