The Founder Video That Sold Poppi
In January 2021, co-founder Allison Ellsworth recorded a quick TikTok about how Poppi started. Four years later, PepsiCo agreed to acquire Poppi for $1.95 billion. Here are the bet, the receipts, and the play you can run.
PepsiCo agreed to buy Poppi on March 17, 2025.
Poppi's Founder Story, Told on TikTok
Allison and Stephen Ellsworth started the company in 2015 as Mother Beverage, an apple cider vinegar drink. On Shark Tank in 2018 they took $400,000 from Rohan Oza for a 25% stake. In 2020 they relaunched it as Poppi, a prebiotic soda in bright, bold colors.
One Friday night in January 2021, around 10 p.m., Allison was at home in Texas when she recorded a quick, impromptu video for the brand's TikTok. She told the founding story and the Shark Tank deal in her own words. By the next morning the video had gone viral.
Why it was risky: Poppi was leaning on one founder's posts to sell a new kind of soda.
From a Viral TikTok to a $1.95B PepsiCo Deal
- 200%Sales jump in one day after the video, according to the company · YPulse, citing Business Insider
- $75K+Sold on Amazon by that Sunday · BevNET
- 200K+Email subscribers within months, up from almost none in December 2020 · BevNET
- $500M+2024 sales, per a Poppi spokesperson, with Poppi in Kroger, Walmart, Costco and Target · Just Drinks
- $1.95BPepsiCo's price, including $300 million in expected tax benefits, for a net price of $1.65 billion · PepsiCo
“They want to connect with a real human, they don’t want the high gloss...”Allison Ellsworth, co-founder · to BevNET, quoted in BevNET’s Best of 2021 awards
Read the numbers with care. The 200% jump and the $500M+ sales figure come from the company, and outlets give different one-day totals for the same video. Poppi also spread into national retailers and kept posting, so the sources don't separate TikTok's effect from the retail push.
Tell Your Founding Story Yourself.
- 1Get the founder on camera. Ellsworth's video was quick and unscripted. In her words, buyers "want to connect with a real human."
- 2Post where your buyers scroll. For Poppi that was the brand's own TikTok, with the founding story and the Shark Tank deal.
- 3Check sales the next day. Poppi saw its jump within a day and kept posting. Watch next-day sales to learn which posts land, and credit retail and other channels for their share too.
Get Creator Receipts
- 10 brands that grew on creators and social video, Poppi included
- The tactic and the sourced numbers for each one
- A play a small brand can run without a big budget
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The Receipts Behind the Receipts
- BevNET, Best of 2021: Poppi's TikTok Case Study (the Friday night video, $75,000+ on Amazon by Sunday, email list to 200,000+, Ellsworth quote)
- YPulse, citing Business Insider, Feb 23, 2021: sales up 200% in one day, according to the company
- Fortune, Apr 17, 2026: $400,000 from Rohan Oza for 25% on Shark Tank; the bright, bold relaunch
- Just Drinks, Mar 17, 2025: Mother Beverage in 2015, relaunch in 2020, Kroger, Walmart, Costco and Target, 2024 sales "north of $500m" per a spokesperson
- PepsiCo press release, Mar 17, 2025: $1.95 billion, including $300 million of anticipated cash tax benefits, $1.65 billion net
No source prints the year beside "January". We date the video to January 2021 because BevNET tracks the email list from December 2020 and YPulse covered the video on Feb 23, 2021.
Image credits: Cans image: PepsiCo press image distributed with its Mar 17, 2025 release, editorial use. TikTok still: BevNET, Best of 2021, used for commentary. Headline clipping: YPulse, Feb 23, 2021, used for commentary. Poppi wordmark via Wikimedia Commons (public domain text logo), a trademark of its owner. Disclosures & Credits