Athletic Greens Plans Global Expansion with $115M Funding Round [Updated]

Health and wellness ecommerce brand Athletic Greens announced today that it has raised $115 million in a funding round led by venture capital firm Alpha Wave Global, which also has investments in companies like Alibaba, Uber and Atai Life Sciences. The deal, which raises the powdered beverage maker’s valuation to over $1 billion, is expected to support global expansion as it seeks to increase production.

The round features a number of institutional and individual investors alongside Alpha Wave, including Big Sky Growth Partners’ CEO Mark Vadon and returning investors SC.Holdings, Bolt Ventures and Dr. Peter Attia. New individuals joining the round include Schmidt’s Naturals founder Jaime Schmidt, Free Solo rock climber Alex Honnold, WNBA star Chiney Ogwumke and Amy Griffin of G9 Ventures, among others.

As part of the deal, Alpha Wave Global chairman Rick Gerson and Vadon will join the company’s board of directors. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC acted as placement agent on the fundraising transaction.

Other investors in the round include Packy McCormick’s Not Boring Capital, Matt Paradis, Shane Parrish, Jim Toth, Anthony Pompliano, Joe Holder, Jeremy Jauncey, Tanya Sam, Miki Agawal, Radha Agrawal, Marcy Simon, Swan Sit, Dan Churchill, Dave Peacock and Harold Hughes.

Speaking with BevNET today, Athletic Greens founder and CEO Chris Ashenden said that having Gerson and Vadon involved with the brand will be a significant asset as the company aims to scale operations around the world.

“These two investors, on top of the strategic and macro inputs from some of the other investors, are just amazing,” Ashenden said. “We worked hard to bring a diverse group of AG1 fans and supporters [into the round] and I think the breadth and depth of their talents, and their diverse ways of thinking about the world, are a huge value-add to us.… As we’re building something more and more spectacular, we’re building it with people who would be an AG1 customer whether they wrote a check or not.”

The round comes less than a year after Athletic Greens announced its first outside capital in July 2021, which brought in celebrity investors like Hugh Jackman, Cindy Crawford and Steve Aoki. Since then, the company has grown its revenue run-rate above $150 million.

Athletic Greens currently produces the AG1 line of health products, including a powdered nutrition drink containing 75 ingredients.

“Athletic Greens is rapidly growing a new, important category within the ascendant health and wellness space – built on trust,” said Rick Gerson, chairman of Alpha Wave Global, in the release. “The story of how Chris and the team built Athletic Greens from scratch to this point while being bootstrapped until very recently is remarkable, and we think the story is only starting. They’ve built an impressive business based on a best-in-class product, an innovative customer acquisition model, and most importantly, a relentless focus on the customer. We’re excited to see their continued growth and impact as they expand globally.”

In December, named former Focus Brands exec Kat Cole as its president and COO, who also joined the brand’s board of directors. Cole told BevNET then that the brand’s strong unit level economics and business model had resulted in “rocketship” growth. While ecommerce remains the focus for Athletic Greens, she said the company is exploring “focused retail partnerships” with a deliberate brick-and-mortar roll out strategy planned, rather than attempting to expand rapidly into retail.

Ashenden echoed Cole’s statements on brick-and-mortar, saying the company intends to approach the space with a “narrow and selective process” with the intent to “meet customers where they want to be met.” No specific timeline for a retail launch is in place.

Cole is also a proponent of web3 technology and said she hopes to work blockchain into the company’s operations and find uses for NFTs in consumer engagement. The company noted in today’s release that embracing the emerging web3 sector will be one of the key uses of the new financing. Notably, several of the investors in this round are also involved in the space, including Schmidt, co-founder of NFT-based networking platform Club CPG, as well as Pomp Investments’ Anthony Pompliano and Bandwagon founder and CEO Harold Hughes.

Ashenden said that while the specifics of how Athletic Greens will integrate web3 are to be determined, he is bullish on the space and that whatever consumer-facing innovations the company announces will be based on feedback and demand.

“One of the amazing things about web3 is how it represents a fundamental shift in how people want to feel a sense of ownership and participation in the things that they either belong to or believe in,” Ashenden said. “So I think, with this investor group who are breaking new ground in many parts of these areas, it’s awesome to have that direct connection to talk to them about what they’re seeing, and what they see as some of the potential new areas to step into in that space.”

Athletic Greens also intends to build out its global manufacturing and logistics capabilities and currently has operations in North America, Europe, China and New Zealand. The company said it intends to triple its 150 person workforce in 2022 while maintaining its fully remote business model.

As well, Ashenden said he plans to continue focusing on innovation and introducing new versions of the brand’s flagship product line. He noted that the current version of AG1 is the 52nd version and a 53rd update is expected later this year. However, he declined to say if the company would seek to expand into additional product types or formats.

“In the U.S. we have open roles in everything from product and digital product to our operations and our supply chain, which has done such a phenomenal job in very trying times, to our branding, messaging, marketing, and partnership people,” he said. “We’re very, very strong on iteration and on how we drive an iterative approach.”