Background
In 2000, Ben Goodwin and a friend launched Kombucha Botanica, a kombucha startup. In 2008, Goodwin left the startup and began developing Obi, a probiotic soft drink based on water kefir. Working with a microbiologist in a makeshift laboratory, Goodwin invested about $300,000 of his own money into the project, which launched in 2012. In 2013, Goodwin partnered with David Lester, who had recently resigned from his job at Diageo. The pair operated Obi until 2016, when they sold the brand for an undisclosed amount after it failed to gain traction.
Olipop
In 2018, Goodwin and Lester founded Olipop with an initial investment of $100,000, taken from the sale of Obi. The drink was first released in three flavors: ginger lemon, strawberry vanilla, and cinnamon cola. It was sold in 40 grocery stores in Northern California, generating $852,000 in gross revenue during its first year. The company secured $2.5 million in seed funding in 2019 and later expanded its retail presence to Target and Walmart stores.
A Series B funding round in 2022 raised $39.7 million from investors including Gwyneth Paltrow, Mindy Kaling, and the Jonas Brothers, bringing Olipop's total funding to $55.4 million by January 2023. The company reached $73.4 million in gross revenue in 2022, a 223% annual increase, and achieved $100 million in gross revenue in the first half of 2023. In 2023, sales of Olipop's root beer flavor surpassed those of A&W. In 2025, the company raised $50 million in a Series C funding round, valuing the company at $1.85 billion, by which time the brand had achieved profitability and expanded its distribution to over 50,000 stores.
In 2022, Olipop created a banana cream flavor branded with Minions characters. Olipop expanded from 12 flavors in April 2023 to 16 in April 2024. Olipop collaborated with Mattel in 2024 to create a peaches and cream flavor themed around Barbie. The flavor Pineapple Paradise was released in 2025 in a cross-marketing campaign for The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants. In 2026, Olipop expanded into products other than beverages, partnering with Grüns to release Strawberry Vanilla Superfoods Greens Gummies and launching a line of flavor-themed lip balms.
