Poppi's Founders Bet $2.5 Million of Their Own on Jetty

PepsiCo paid $1.95 billion for Poppi in March 2025. Fourteen months later, founders Allison and Stephen Ellsworth have put a little over $2.5 million of their own money into their next company: Jetty, a self-funded hydration line of drinks and ready-to-mix powders that debuted on Target.com and in Whole Foods in November, with Target stores to follow in January.

Jetty exists because of GLP-1s. After starting the medication, Ellsworth was in the best shape of her life but felt less thirsty. Every day around 3 p.m. she'd get a headache. Existing hydration products contained so much salt that her belly bloated and her fingers swelled. "I just felt awful," Ellsworth says. "And so I was looking for alternatives. People are constantly looking for something with flavor that they can hydrate with that's just a little bit better than water. Water is boring."

How did Poppi get built?

The origin story runs from problem to product to Shark Tank to PepsiCo. Allison developed digestive issues while pregnant with the couple's first son in 2016. The pair developed an apple cider vinegar-based drink, called Mother Beverage, and made it at home — bottling line in the living room, vats in the guest room, the whole house smelling of vinegar. From 2016 to 2018 they sold at farmers' markets around Dallas, then landed distribution in 14 Whole Foods and 200 area Albertsons. With half a million dollars in sales in the first 18 months, they appeared on Shark Tank in December 2018, Allison nine months pregnant and dressed in pink.

Guest Shark Rohan Oza, co-founder and managing partner of CAVU Consumer Partners and an investor in Vitaminwater, Smartwater, Vita Coco and Bai, found the couple "straight out of central casting." CAVU's chief marketing officer Stevie Clements recalled the goal: "We had been looking for something that could really become modern soda." The couple accepted $400,000 for 25 percent of the company. Oza liked the liquid and the Ellsworths but hated almost everything else — so Mother dissolved and Poppi was born. "I give them so much credit that they had the faith in me," Oza says.

Poppi launched on March 3, 2020, just as Covid hit. Stephen immersed himself in brand finance and food science; Allison shot TikToks. Emma Grede, Good American CEO and Skims founding partner, says, "My initial reaction was that this woman was a force of nature, and whatever she was selling, I wanted to buy." She became an investor.

Ellsworth also played a long influencer game. Poppi delivered free soda monthly to Anastasia "Stassiebaby" Karanikolaou for two and a half years with no posts — until Kylie Jenner drank one on camera. "She takes it, she drinks it, and puts it right down," Ellsworth says.

What shaped the $1.95 billion deal?

In 2022, Oza brought in beverage veteran Chris Hall as CEO to replace Stephen, a "difficult conversation" Stephen agreed was right for scaling. A Super Bowl spot the Ellsworths and Clements lobbied for became the most-watched Super Bowl commercial of 2024, per Samba TV. Oza, with majority control, rejected an initial PepsiCo offer and "sabotaged" a second one until PepsiCo met his demand: "It needs to be north of two." The March 17, 2025 deal included a $300 million earnout tied to growth milestones by Q3 2027. PepsiCo has since cut its earnout estimate to about $12 million — CPG chatter treats that as a disappointment for both sides, though earnouts cut both ways: Coca-Cola paid $9.2 billion total for Fairlife on a $980 million purchase price, while Mondelēz has marked Clif Bar's earnout down from reportedly $440 million to under $160 million. PepsiCo and the Ellsworths declined comment; when a creator likened earnouts to a lottery ticket, Stephen commented: "Finally someone that understands it."

The sale came with a narrow noncompete: only prebiotic soda was off-limits.

Why go it alone this time?

The Ellsworths self-funded Jetty despite investor interest, in part because they don't need a mentor-partner. "A lot of brands won't invest in brand building," Allison says. "They're so focused on being profitable that they're not focused on long-term affinity and building community. It's expensive, but it works."

Stephen, CEO this time — "a position no one can remove him from" — details a proprietary bottle of medical-grade PET 1 plastic to keep oxygen out. Jetty skips lemon-lime, the most popular hydration flavor, to differentiate. Powders are a $1 billion-plus business on Amazon and offer 15 to 20 percent better margin across Amazon and wholesale, offsetting bad liquid-shipping economics.

Seth Goldman, co-founder of Honest Tea and Just Ice Tea, frames the stakes: "Just as soda was a crowded space, it's a crowded space. So if they can reinvent or add a unique dimension to it, it's clearly a big category." The competition includes Poppi itself, now expanding with Poppi Lift and Poppi Chill.

The plan: profitability in four years, then maybe a sale — "Maybe it's four," Allison says, meaning billions — or a Celsius-Alani Nu-style strategic partnership, ideally with Justin and Hailey Bieber as celebrity partners.

Asked whether she manifested her success, Ellsworth doesn't hedge. "No," she says. "I fucking worked hard to make it happen."