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Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO) is pursuing a purchase of healthy soda brand Poppi.
The beverage giant is just one of the suitors pursuing an acquisition of the healthy soda company, according to a Bloomberg report on Tuesday, which cited people familiar with the matter. No transaction has been finalized and a deal isn’t imminent.
Poppi hasn’t disclosed sales, but has said it’s the top-selling soda on Amazon (AMZN). Poppi is also sold at Target (TGT), Costco (COST), Kroger (KR) and Whole Foods.
A Coca-Cola representative told Bloomberg that the company doesn’t comment on market rumors or speculation.
A potential acquisition of Poppi comes as the health soda drink maker was one of the Super Bowl advertisers that saw the biggest jump in immediate social media engagement. The Austin-based company’s 60-second The Future of Soda is Now commercial led to a 1561% jump in online engagement, per data from EDO.
Poppi was founded by husband-and-wife duo Stephen and Allison Ellsworth in 2015 and was prominently featured on TV show Shark Tank. The latest funding round was a Series B in 2022 that raised $25M. The soda products manufactured by Poppi are noted to combine fruit juice, apple cider vinegar, and inulin prebiotics.
The prebiotics soda category is still relatively small, with the health benefits still being debated. Last year, reports indicated that both Coca-Cola (KO) and PepsiCo (PEP) were interested in prebiotic soda brand Olipop, which is found in over 25K stores in the U.S. and generated more than $100M in revenue for the first half of 2023.
