Olipop

Olipop is a probiotic soft drink produced in the United States. It is sold in over 25,000 stores in the United States and the company had a revenue of $100 million for the first half of 2023. The drink's marketing claims that it improves gut health. Skeptics suggest that it is not better than having a balanced diet. It is marketed as a “sparkling tonic”.

The brand name Olipop is a combination of the prebiotic fiber named oligosaccharide (oli), and "pop", a common name for a soft drink in the United States.

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

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 flavours: 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. , there are 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. , Olipop raised a total of $55.4 million in funding. Olipop reached $73.4 million in gross revenue in 2022, a 223% year increase; and it reached $100 million gross revenue in the first half of 2023. According to Goodwin, sales of root beer Olipop has overtaken those of A&W.

In 2022, Olipop created a banana cream flavor which was branded with Minions characters.

Operations
, Olipop has over 100 employees. The workforce is remote. Olipop offers a subscription which sends customers a box of drinks every few weeks. Olipop sells exclusively to the United States and does not ship overseas.