TAMPA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cirkul, a beverage platform known for its patented flavor cartridges, is announcing a Series C of $70MM at a pre-money valuation of $1 billion today, led by SC Holdings. Launched in 2018, Cirkul’s beverage platform features a hyper-personalized product with 50+ unique flavors through a single reusable water bottle. Cirkul’s proprietary, form-factor innovation is taking the beverage industry into the future with a product that centers on personalization and health, prioritizes environmental impact, is digitally native, and leverages re-shored US-based manufacturing. The company has been growing at over 150% per year since its launch in 2018 and has been profitable for the last two years.
“Today, consumers are driving major shifts in the beverage industry, increasingly focused on health and reducing their environmental impact but aren’t willing to compromise on convenience or delicious flavor,” said CEO & co-founder Garrett Waggoner. “Cirkul’s platform for delivering delicious, personalized, and better-for-you beverages has seen a tremendous response from customers. The sales velocities at Walmart and Bed, Bath & Beyond have been incredible especially while maintaining strong growth for our D2C business. This fundraise will help us continue to capitalize on the strong customer demand for our products which are tailor-made for today’s consumer.
As the beverage industry undergoes a seismic shift brought on by evolving consumer demands, Cirkul’s product has proven to be exactly what modern day consumers want.
Their model attracted Walmart executives and inspired them to put Cirkul in 4,200 stores across the US, one of the largest ever retail launches for a DTC company. Since launch, Cirkul has vastly outperformed projections.
“We're thrilled to partner with and support the team at Cirkul. The company combines a truly innovative product, cultural relevance with over 1 billion TikTok video views, a passionate community, and an impressive omnichannel distribution strategy,” said Dan Haimovic, managing partner at SC Holdings, “There’s an investor appetite for companies like Cirkul that combine proprietary innovation with a business model that drives incredible growth, capital efficiency, and profitability.”
Cirkul was founded by Waggoner and Andy Gay, who developed the product while students at Dartmouth College to combine the benefits of both bottled beverages and concentrated powders/liquids while eliminating the downsides of each. Since its launch in 2018, Cirkul has helped millions of customers drink the equivalent of hundreds of millions of bottled beverages. Today, Cirkul has built a team of over 500 and has grown exponentially with an exciting portfolio of disruptive water bottles and flavor cartridges.
Cirkul bottles, cartridges and accessories are available at drinkcirkul.com as a one-time purchase or with an auto-ship plan. To learn more about Cirkul, please visit www.drinkcirkul.com.
ABOUT CIRKUL:
Cirkul is a beverage platform on a mission to help people drink more water. Cirkul allows consumers to flavor their water sip-by-sip using a dial to control the flavor intensity. Available in over 50 flavors, Cirkul’s beverages use all-natural flavoring, no added colors or dyes, and contain zero calories or sugar. With 84% less plastic use, 96% less carbon emissions from shipping than single-use, disposable beverage bottles, and an average of six bottle refills per cartridge, Cirkul is also helping people reduce their plastic footprint and impact on the environment while giving them a simple and convenient way to stay hydrated.
