Startup News: Beverage brand Liquid Death reportedly eyeing an IPO
Beverage brand Liquid Death reportedly eyeing an IPO
Liquid Death has achieved a notable feat in the annals of consumer marketing: It turned canned spring and sparkling water into irreverent, edgy products geared to the heavy-metal crowd. And in doing so, the company has become one of the fastest growing non-alcoholic U.S. beverage brands in recent years.
Now the offbeat company – whose slogan is “murder your thirst” – is reportedly seeking to achieve another feat by becoming a public company. According to business-new site The Information, Liquid Death has retained Goldman Sachs to take it public as early as next spring, according to a person familiar with the talks.
Founded in 2017, the company, whose last known valuation as of May 2023 was $710 million, packages its products in tall-boy cans with designs that more closely resemble the kind found on cans of beer or malt liquor than water. Mike Cessario, the company’s CEO, once told The Wall Street Journal that “we’re using packaging and brand psychology to make something healthier not feel like it’s healthy.”
Cohere and Anthropic receiving funding from software giant SAP
German enterprise software company SAP is among the latest global tech company to invest in generative AI startups.
VentureBeat, a trade publication, reported last week that SAP has made direct investments in three AI companies, including Cohere and Anthropic, but would not disclose the specific dollar amounts.
“A spokesperson told VentureBeat that the investments ‘are a signal of SAP’s commitment to offering valuable generative AI scenarios built into our portfolio of business applications,’ ” the publication wrote.
The news follows a July 11 announcement that SAP-backed Sapphire Ventures was investing more than $1 billion in a collection of AI-powered enterprise startups, including firms that specialize in generative AI.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported last week that McKinsey & Co., the global management consulting firm, is partnering with Cohere as part of an effort to provide AI solutions for McKinsey’s corporate clients. “This is the first partnership with a large language model provider that McKinsey has announced as it joins other global consulting firms to tap into the global AI frenzy kicked off by the popular Microsoft-backed OpenAI's ChatGPT,” Reuters reported.
About the Author
John Kimelman is a veteran journalist who has worked at Barron’s and CNBC covering such topics as investing and commercial banking. Mr. Kimelman has received compensation from Forge Global, Inc. for authoring this article. Read more from John.