How Yanni Hufnagel and Beyonce Took Lemon Good from Idea to High Market Model
With a concentrate on flavorful, wholesome drinks and on-the-go snacks, Yanni Hufnagel, CEO and Lemon Good founder, already had his eyes on the longer term in 2017. However an opportunity photograph by pop star Beyoncé Knowles-Carter posted to social media took the model from rising to a top market hit in 2020. Developed as a hydrating however flavorful lemon water choice, Hufnagel’s concentrate on making a keto and sugar-free choice for well-liked consumption is on the quick monitor to excellent monetary success.
Beyoncé, recognized for her wholesome life-style, had a bottle of her favourite Lemon Good taste in her limo door when she took the now-famous photograph. The dragon fruit mango bottle rapidly soared throughout social media as Yanni Hufnagel had his beverage model thrust into the limelight. “She had posted a photograph with it in her limo, and unexpectedly my telephone blew up,” Hufnagel stated. “We got here to study that she was an genuine fan of the model. A 12 months later, one in every of our traders was in her home and noticed her stash within the fridge and helped us construct the bridge along with her. It’s past my wildest desires to have somebody of her affect being a fan of the model.”
Constructing investor curiosity in a beverage enterprise will not be all the time simply achieved. Happily, the pop star’s bottle of dragon fruit mango Lemon Good has helped promote the model immensely. Reasonably than a coincidence, the famous person has a real love of the drink. “I don’t sometimes take pleasure in drinks with out added sugar, however Lemon Good is scrumptious,” acknowledged Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, “It was a straightforward determination to spend money on one thing that not solely tastes nice and is wholesome, but in addition, and most significantly, permits selecting a more healthy life-style to be reasonably priced and accessible to everybody.”
In its current $31 million Sequence A spherical of funding, which incorporates not solely Knowles-Carter but in addition Goat Rodeo Capital, Beachwood Capital, Melitas Ventures, Trousdale Ventures, and NNS Capital, Lemon Good has plans to proceed competing with different beverage sector. Favorites similar to vitaminwater, trace, and Bai have impressed Yanni Hufnagel, who as a former coach had usually seen his basketball gamers consuming these drinks within the locker room. The University of Nevada, Reno basketball coach had additionally obtained a draft of a Keto food regimen ebook containing a number of lemon water recipes. Seeing the potential to enter the market utilizing the identical basis as Bai, a no-sugar low-calorie beverage, Hufnagel began his Atlanta-based business in 2017.
The multi-billion greenback enhanced water beverage sector was ripe for brand new taste and has projections of 9 % annual progress for the subsequent 5 years. Along with dragon fruit mango, Lemon Good additionally is available in lemon, peach raspberry, and blueberry acai flavors. With a mere 5 energy whereas supplemented with potassium and vitamin C, the model stands alone together with its full lack of synthetic flavors, sweeteners, and added sugar. “Nothing with our flavor and health profile is available on the market at this time,” Yanni Hufnagel acknowledged. “Our worth level is at the place a shopper wherever and anytime can turn out to be a buyer. It is rather uncommon which you could have a complete addressable market like we do.”
The brand new spherical of funding combines $16.5 million of an preliminary spherical in addition to a $14 million extension funding, offering Lemon Good with whole funding of $42.2 million and a valuation of over $100 million. The brand new funding was pursued to gasoline progress. The model was poised to scale to over 40,000 distribution factors on the finish of 2022, representing progress of 15,000 extra distribution factors that embody on-line in addition to brick-and-mortar retailers and the necessity for a bigger gross sales staff.
Following Beyoncé’s 2020 publish, Lemon Good quadrupled income to $21 million, with projections of $60 million in retail gross sales in 2022, a complete progress of $35 million. Yanni Hufnagel anticipates doubled income in 2023 with a associated enhance in workforce from 38 to 70. “Beverage is an costly sport, and entry to capital is the one approach to drive a fast-scaling model ahead,” Hufnagel acknowledged in a current interview. “We wish to be a disruptive participant in a big class and wish to put gasoline on the hearth. We felt like we had been capable of drive nice execution, however nonetheless have room to develop and wish to construct a giant margin story for tomorrow.” With backers like Beyoncé, Lemon Good’s future is actually promising.
