PepsiCo today announced the culmination of its inaugural North American Nutrition Greenhouse class, awarding Hapi Drinks, an Austin, Texas-based company creating sugar-free drinks for kids, the final $100,000 grant.
Nutrition Greenhouse North America was launched in the fall of 2018 to discover and support emerging brands in the food and beverage sector. The program welcomed ten diverse companies as part of its inaugural class, providing each with $20,000 and a partnership with PepsiCo mentors. These mentors — experts in strategic planning, brand optimization, product development, supply chain management, customer acquisition and distribution — helped the companies to realize and grow their market potential.
“The insights, guidance, and connections my PepsiCo mentors provided were invaluable and essential to unlocking new growth avenues for Hapi Drinks,” said Karsten Idsal, CEO of Hapi Drinks. “We are passionate about our mission to fight childhood obesity by providing great tasting sugar free kids drinks and it is fantastic to get PepsiCo’s support in our efforts.”
During the six-month program, these ten companies grew their revenues by an average of 200 percent. Other successes stemming from the program include the launch of new product lines, as well as digital campaigns that have driven sales and new customer acquisitions.
“We are so proud of the progress that each of the ten companies achieved in the last six months, and it’s a testament to what happens when big and small brands come together,” said Daniel Grubbs, PepsiCo Ventures Group Managing Director. “More than that, the program has provided a very unique leadership experience for our colleague-mentors, who all feel energized by the agility, speed, and creativity that the entrepreneurs have embodied. They are excited to apply this entrepreneurial spirit to their day-to-day work at PepsiCo.”
About Nutrition Greenhouse
First launched in Europe in 2017, PepsiCo brought its successful Nutrition Greenhouse program to North America in 2018. Nutrition Greenhouse is a collaborative accelerator program designed to nurture the growth of emerging brands in the food and beverage sector, and to allow PepsiCo to continue being at the forefront of innovation. Companies were provided an initial grant funding and participated in a 6-month business optimization program designed to accelerate growth. PepsiCo is proud to have hosted a diverse group of companies for its first North American class, where 50 percent of the companies were female-founded or co-founded. More information can be found at https://nutritiongreenhouse.com/north-america/.
About PepsiCo
PepsiCo products are enjoyed by consumers more than one billion times a day in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. PepsiCo generated more than $64 billion in net revenue in 2018, driven by a complementary food and beverage portfolio that includes Frito-Lay, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, Quaker and Tropicana. PepsiCo’s product portfolio includes a wide range of enjoyable foods and beverages, including 22 brands that generate more than $1 billion each in estimated annual retail sales.
Guiding PepsiCo is our vision to Be the Global Leader in Convenient Foods and Beverages by Winning with Purpose. “Winning with Purpose” reflects our ambition to win sustainably in the marketplace and embed purpose into all aspects of the business. For more information, visit www.pepsico.com.
