Olipop

Background

Ben Goodwin started developing a soft drink after leaving a kombucha company in 2008.[4] He spent about $300,000 of his personal savings on the project, working in a makeshift lab with a microbiologist. The probiotic soft drink, named Obi, was created by 2012.[4] In 2013, Goodwin met with David Lester in a coffee shop, who had previously quit his job.[4] The two agreed to partner together in making Obi.[4] In 2016, the two sold Obi for an undisclosed amount after it failed to gain traction.[4][5] They then went on to work on Olipop.[4]

Olipop

Olipop was founded in 2018 by Ben Goodwin and David Lester 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 sold in 40 grocery stores in its first year, in Northern California, and reached $852,000 in gross revenue. They later became on sale in Target and Walmart stores. The company gathered $2.5 million in seed funding in 2019.[4] As of April 2023, there were 12 Olipop flavors; in April 2024, there were 16 at Olipop's website.

A series B funding round was carried out in 2022, which raised $39.7 million. Funders included Gwyneth Paltrow, Mindy Kaling, and the Jonas Brothers.[4] As of January 2023, Olipop raised a total of $55.4 million in funding.[6] Olipop reached $73.4 million in gross revenue in 2022,[4] a 223% year increase;[7] and it reached $100 million gross revenue in the first half of 2023.[4] According to Goodwin, sales of root beer Olipop has overtaken those of A&W.[6][7]

In 2022, Olipop created a banana cream flavor which was branded with Minions characters.[8] The drink is still produced today, albeit without the Minion or Despicable Me branding attached to it.

In 2024, Olipop collaborated with Mattel to create a new peaches and cream flavor themed around Barbie. The can sported a design showing different pieces of Barbie iconography. Like the banana cream flavor before it, after the promotion it became a mainstay flavor without the Barbie theming.

In 2025, the company raised $50 million in a Series C funding round, valuing the company at $1.85 billion. It had become profitable and its products were sold in over 50,000 stores.[9]

Also In 2025, Olipop, in Promotion For The SpongeBob Movie: Search For SquarePants, would release the soda flavor Pineapple Paradise, with the cans being sported with the character SpongeBob SquarePants in his pirate outfit he wore in the movie.[10] The promotion has currently not ended.