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The nonalcoholic beer that’s brought new meaning to brewskis with the boys is about to pop up on even more drink menus. Athletic Brewing closed a new round of funding that values the company—known for its cool branding and less than 0.5% ABV—at $800 million, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The new valuation, which doubled from two years ago, comes as the company received $50 million in funding led by private equity giant General Atlantic. With the money raised, Athletic plans to expand at retailers and increase production.
Its surfing-oriented branding appears to have carried over to its business, because Athletic is now riding a wave:
- It’s the top nonalcoholic brand by sales in US grocery stores, and a top 20 US brewery by barrels sold.
- The company generated $90 million in revenue in 2023 and expects to do more in 2024.
- It produced over 258,000 barrels of beer in 2023, up from a few hundred barrels when it launched in 2018.
- Athletic has 19% of the domestic market share for nonalcoholic beer and is driving 32% of total nonalcoholic beer category growth, according to NielsenIQ data.
Changing attitudes: Nonalcoholic beer is the fastest-growing segment of the beer market, thanks to the more than 40% of Americans who say they’re trying to drink less alcohol. Athletic said that 80% of their customers still drink alcohol but turn to their brews when they need a break from the nectar of the gods.
Zoom out: It’s not the only alt-drink brand that’s capitalizing on a consumer shift that’s helped by the prevalence of weight-loss drugs. Water-in-a-can company Liquid Death was valued at $1.4 billion in March, while “healthy soda” brand Olipop is reportedly circling an $800 million valuation of its own.—CC