Nice Dr. Pepper has invested $50 million in Athletic Brewing, the non-alcoholic beer maker, as part of a $75 million fundraising round by Athletic, the companies announced Wednesday.
The investment from Keurig, which also owns the Canada Dry, Snapple and Green Mountain brands, is the beverage giant’s second step into the non-alcoholic beverage category, following a deal to transfer a non-alcoholic cocktail brand called Atypique this summer. to take. Keurig has said it wants to make more acquisitions and has about $20 billion to do so.
The deal is a sign of continued interest in the burgeoning non-alcoholic beer category, as younger consumers drink less and care more about their waistline. Sales of non-alcoholic beer are skyrocketing in the United States, rising nearly 70 percent from 2016 to 2021, to about $670 million in annual sales, Euromonitor said.
That’s still a small part of the beer market, but the popularity of non-alcoholic beer is in stark contrast to the overall sluggishness of beer sales. Beer giants such as Heineken, Budweiser and Sam Adams have brought alcohol-free alternatives to the market over the past five years.
Athletic Brewing was founded in Stratford, Conn., in 2017 by Bill Shufelt, a former trader with the hedge fund Point72, and John Walker, a former craft brewer. It now sells its products — including lager, light beer and sparkling water — at retailers such as Trader Joe’s. With its new lender, Athletic wants to expand in Australia, France and Spain.
The company was founded with people like Mr. Shufelt who don’t want to drink alcohol every night. That desire was fully realized when he was training for an ultramarathon in 2013, he said.
“I stopped drinking for a month and felt incredible,” said Mr. Shufelt. “And it was a good idea for me to stop drinking — but then I was at all those drinking places and there was nothing on the menu for people who didn’t drink.”
mr. Shufelt said he had tried to create a non-alcoholic beer that could be drunk as a drink, not a substitute. He said about 80 percent of his customers drank alcohol and three-quarters were between the ages of 21 and 44. About half are women.
