Odyssey, a mushroom-based practical vitality beverage maker, raised one other $6 million in an fairness funding to present it $14 million in complete funding since launching its first drink two years in the past.
Odyssey’s merchandise faucet into the well being advantages of Lion’s Mane and Cordyceps mushrooms to provide a drink that mixes an vitality increase with 2,750 milligrams of the mushrooms to offer cognitive readability and focus.
Lion’s Mane, particularly, was proven to positively affect cognitive perform and temper in younger adults, in accordance with a 2023 Nationwide Institutes of Well being pilot research.
Scott Frohman, founder and CEO of Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based Odyssey, first realized about the advantages of sure mushrooms from a pal making a mushroom powder to combine in drinks.
“I began including it to my espresso, and I spotted that every part was extra clear,” he informed TechCrunch. “One of the best half was after I started working, I spotted that I didn’t want that second cup of espresso. On high of that, I simply felt I used to be simply extra current and was in a position to bounce to my work.”
Nevertheless, Frohman didn’t precisely like how the powder affected the style and texture of the drinks, and most well-liked an vitality drink supply, so he started engaged on Odyssey in 2021. Right this moment, the corporate has 11 SKUs, together with flavors like Ardour Fruit Orange/Mango, Dragon Fruit Lemonade and Blackberry Lemon Twist.
The vitality within the drinks come from a mix of L-Theanine, ginseng and inexperienced tea caffeine. And there’s much less added sugar to assist reduce “the jitters” and sugar crashes usually related to conventional vitality drinks, Frohman mentioned. For many who need much more of a caffeine increase, the corporate not too long ago launched the Odyssey 222 line with 222 milligrams of caffeine along with the mushrooms.
Over 5,000 shops, together with Publix, CVS, GNC, Erewhon, 7-Eleven, Thrive Market, Wegmans and Bristol Farms carry Odyssey merchandise. Frohman didn’t present development metrics, however did say the corporate is seeing gross sales choose up when it comes to three to 5 cans per week per SKU being bought.
Progress within the practical beverage business accelerated in recent times as customers more and more seemed for more healthy meals. The international practical soda class is anticipated to be valued at $208 billion by 2027. That’s impressed new manufacturers to emerge and enticed some enterprise capitalists to speculate within the sector.
Throughout this time, we noticed manufacturers like more healthy soda corporations Poppi and Olipop seize capital in 2022, whereas The Ryl Firm raised $6.7 million in early 2023 for its line of practical ready-to-drink tea.
Odyssey additionally joins a protracted listing of corporations leveraging mushrooms and mycelium, the foundation of the mushroom, to make every part from various proteins to leather-like supplies to constructing supplies. Corporations like Infinite Roots are even rising mushrooms for commercialization functions.
“Because the timing is little question proper, mycelium can win over customers with style, dietary, practical, scalable and impact-related advantages,” mentioned PeakBridge CTO Maya Schushan Orgad in a evaluation of mycelium developments.
In the meantime, Odyssey’s new funding spherical consists of strategic investor Richard Laver from Rocket Beverage Group, who joins a gaggle of current stakeholders contributing 50% of the full raised quantity.
Frohman plans to allocate the capital towards stock to maintain distribution going and hiring within the areas of gross sales and advertising.
“We don’t see this as only a product, however an entire motion,” Frohman mentioned.
