Cheers to 2024: The Top-Funded Drink Startups of the Year

CHART OF THE WEEK 📈

By Teddy Lyons | Read

New Year’s Eve is tomorrow! All across the world, people will be ringing in 2025 with friends, family, and, of course, refreshing beverages. Drinks are a major part of startup investing, too. Every year, we see a variety of beverage companies raise money in the online private markets. To celebrate the new year, today’s Chart of the Week shows the amount of funding that alcohol and mocktail startups received in 2024. In just this year, 98 alcohol and mocktail companies raised a total of over $17 million. Hard liquor and beer saw the most startups, with a total of 32 and 31 companies, respectively. Ready-to-drink cocktail companies saw $5.36M raised across 14 companies, and Mocktail, Wine, and Mixer companies raised $1.5M across 22 companies. These are the highest-funded companies in each category:

• Hard liquor: Kuleana Spirits ($1.94 million)

• Beer: Mother Road Brewing Company ($906,151)

• Seltzer/RTD: Hard AF Seltzer ($1.8M)

• Wine: Peaceful Bend Vineyard  ($124,000)

• Mocktail: Self Care by Three Magnets Brewing ($182,685)

• Mixer: Cheeky Cocktails ($86,150).

Happy New Year, and cheers!

A YEAR IN REVIEW 💸

With 2024 coming to a close, instead of a Pitch Review, we asked members of our Investment team (Brian Belley, Léa Bouhelier-Gautreau, and Teddy Lyons) to share a few thoughts about this year’s investment opportunities, the equity crowdfunding (ECF) landscape, as well as trends to look forward to in 2025.

What trend stood out to you about startup investing in 2024?

Teddy: I have been quite impressed with the growth of the secondary market across the venture capital industry, with deal volume growing nearly 60% in 2024. Secondary transactions provide a great avenue for investor liquidity and has seen unprecedented levels of activity in 2024. However, this has only been for the VC and accredited community, and I look forward to the growth of equity crowdfunding secondary marketplaces in 2025.

Brian: I’ve been continually surprised that the average valuation across all Reg CF equity deals has only continued to soar in 2023 ($29.1M in Nov. 2023) and again in 2024 ($37M(!) in Nov.) - both increases even from the average of $21.1M in Nov. 2021. I expected average (and median) valuations to correct and trend with the public markets from 2022 through 2024 and “normalize” more for Reg CF.

However, this trend in valuations is more indicative of the maturity of the average issuer that is now using Reg CF, and less a reflection of whether the typical deal is over- or under-valued compared to traditional angel and VC deals (we have definitely seen examples of both in Reg CF). The increase of the Reg CF cap to $5 million has definitely attracted more mature issuers - which can also mean higher-quality companies with higher revenues and more traction.

Léa: I was surprised by the rise of Dealmaker, which doesn’t act like a traditional marketplace, but features one-off deals. The median amount raised on Dealmaker is $413k, while it’s $204k on StartEngine and $107k on Wefunder. Dealmaker’s issuers are usually later-stage companies than on marketplaces, which explains this higher number, but I’ve also heard founders rave about its team.

What do you expect of the equity crowdfunding market in 2025?

Léa: We’ve seen an uptick in new raises recently. With an economy that is finally stabilizing, and lowering interest rates, I would expect retail investors to come back in numbers. I also feel like many climate tech startups may rebrand themselves as “job-creating” and “affordable” solutions to keep attracting investors and government funding.

Teddy: I expect private market activity to boom in 2025. Many founders I’ve spoken with are feeling very optimistic about fundraising activity in 2025, with regulatory pressure likely to ease around industries like AI, HealthTech, and just overall capital formation in general.

Brian: Since Q2 of 2024, we’ve seen signals that investors and founders are returning to Reg CF in numbers that we haven’t seen since Q1 2022. The number of active equity-based investment rounds hit a new all-time high in November 2024. While investment volume hasn’t yet reached the prior peaks, I suspect that 2025 could see investor numbers creeping back toward previous highs. I think the industry needs one or two massively successful exits (in terms of ROI) for investors before it reaches new heights, though. Perhaps the potential opening of the IPO window again in 2025 and a more capital formation-friendly administration will help propel some larger investor exits in 2025.

What is your standout industry in ECF for 2024?

Brian: While AI was all the rage in Reg D offerings and later-stage VC rounds, I think the quantity and quality of some of the energy-related companies has continued to perform well in investment crowdfunding.

Léa: The energy industry gave me a couple of crispy deals.

Teddy: I have been continually surprised and optimistic at the quality of MedTech and early-stage biopharma companies raising in the equity crowdfunding industry.

What changes are you looking for in equity crowdfunding in 2025? 

Teddy: I am desperately hoping (but not optimistic) for funding portals to require companies to clearly state valuation at the top of raise pages. Far too many issuers (both RegA and RegCF) are allowed to take advantage of retail investors by not stating valuations and instead posting cookie-cutter lawyer language like “We do not have a valuation. Our shares were priced arbitrarily.” If you see a raise without a clearly stated valuation, you should probably not invest. If you are an issuer that does not display your valuation on your raise page, shame on you. You are holding the equity crowdfunding industry back.

Léa: Wefunder does a great job at getting a variety of issuers, from tiny CPG brands to YC-backed startups, but I would like to see ECF be even more democratized among founders. Specifically, I’d like to see more great VC-backed software companies raising bridge rounds and Friends & Family rounds since they can easily bring high returns to investors.

Brian: It’s no surprise that the industry as a whole needs to do a better job of helping to keep investors in the loop post-investment. Not only giving updates to investors (whether the company is doing well or going out of business), but also streamlining the process by which companies transfer shares among transfer agents, handling the distribution of shares to investors during IPOs, and both communicating and logistically executing transactions such as mergers and acquisitions when retail investors are involved. If the online private market is to survive and even thrive long-term, issuers and platforms must ensure that investors aren’t forgotten once they’ve written the check.

What industry or deal types do you see growing in 2025? 

Brian: With the new administration in place and changes at the SEC, it will be interesting to see what (if any) role the current (and future) regulations might play in potentially facilitating more crypto offerings through these official channels. I’m not talking about launches of new Bitcoin imitators, but using tokens as a way to fractionalize and issue tradeable securities in a compliant way seems like a longer-term no-brainer. 

Also, I think we’ll continue to see the fractionalizing of new types of assets — not just real estate, art, and videos of today — but more innovation around fractionalizing sports contracts, future job earnings, and who knows what else.

Léa: While I see AI and ML growing, I’d like to get more clarity from issuers on whether they are real AI plays or simply integrating ChatGPT in their products.

Teddy: I will be closely tracking the biopharmaceutical and MedTech industries, particularly regarding the impact of Trump’s presidency on FDA regulation. Republican leadership in top life science positions tends to skew towards less stringent regulations, which could significantly impact approval timelines and clinical study requirements. However, this could have the opposite effect, as state-level regulation may increase as a result of weakening federal regulation. It will be fascinating to watch this play out.

INSIDE STARTUP INVESTING

In this episode, we dive into the transformative world of hospital supply management with Roy Malkin, CEO of Assured Med Supply (AMS). Discover how AMS is leveraging AI to streamline hospital procurement processes, ensuring that hospitals can efficiently manage supplies and avoid costly shortages.

STAFF FAVORITE PICKS OF 2024 🌶️

Brian Belley, Teddy Lyons: Pirouette Medical

Pirouette Medical is entering the autoinjector market with an advanced, easy-to-use, and cost-effective solution designed for life-saving medication delivery. Founded by three rocket scientists, the company aims to empower patients with self-injection tools, starting with its flagship epinephrine auto-injector. Backed by 18 patents and $14 million in prior funding from notable investors like Y Combinator and Safar Partners, Pirouette’s platform technology can be applied to various drugs, addressing both emergency and non-emergency needs.

• Valuation Cap: $55 million

• Minimum Investment: $100

• Invested? Teddy, Brian, Kingscrowd Capital Fund I

Léa Bouhelier-Gautreau: EarthGrid (Closed)

EarthGrid is tackling the U.S. energy grid bottleneck with its plasma tunnel-boring technology, designed to cut through rock and soil 100 times more efficiently and 10 times cheaper than traditional methods. By accelerating infrastructure development, EarthGrid supports clean energy, modern utilities, and disaster prevention by burying electricity lines.

• Pre-Money Valuation: $80.4 million

• Minimum Investment: $99

• Invested? Brian, Léa, Kingscrowd Capital Fund I

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