Beverage News
Waterloo Sparkling Water Attracts New Control Investors
Flexis Capital and Eurazeo, through Eurazeo Brands, its investment division focused on differentiated consumer brands, along with Moore Strategic Ventures, today announced they have acquired Waterloo Sparkling Water (“Waterloo”) and will support the company in its next phase of growth. The Flexis Capital–led equity consortium also includes JW Levin Management Partners and Waterloo Capital’s investors. Jason Shiver, CEO of Waterloo, who has driven the company’s rapid growth over the last three years, will continue to lead the company alongside COO Jeff Arnold.
Austin-based Waterloo was founded in 2017 and has quickly become one of the fastest-growing and largest independent sparkling water brands in the United States, with distribution in over 13,000 retail doors, including Whole Foods Market, Costco, Target, Kroger, Walmart, Publix, H-E-B/Central Market and others. The investment will provide Waterloo with additional operational resources, brand-building expertise, and capital to grow its business by accelerating its product and marketing innovation.
“We’re very proud of the company we’ve built so far, the distinct consumer appeal of our products and the tremendous support of our retail distribution network,” said Jason Shiver, CEO of Waterloo. “Choosing the best partners for Waterloo was critical to continuing our momentum and we’re confident that Flexis Capital, Eurazeo and JW Levin will provide deep brand-building experience and industry relationships that will be key to accelerating our growth, while Moore Strategic Ventures’ financial acumen will add firepower to our capabilities. We also want to thank our co-founding partners at CAVU Venture Partners for their support to date.”
As part of the transaction, Stephen Sadove will join Waterloo’s board as Non-executive Chairman and Jerry Levin will join as a Director. The two are Founding Partners of JW Levin Management Partners and have decades of operating and board experience in the consumer, beverage and retail industries.
“We’re extremely impressed with the brand that Jason and his team have built in less than three years,” said Stephen Sadove. “They are a sophisticated, experienced management team and have quickly established Waterloo as a best-in-category flavored sparkling water and a key beneficiary of consumers’ increasing demand for healthier alternatives to traditional soft drinks. We’re excited to work with this team to continue to strengthen the Waterloo brand and broaden its distribution.”
Louis Friedman, Managing Partner of Flexis Capital, added, “Jason Shiver and Jeff Arnold have a history of success developing category-leading brands, and are deploying a similar playbook at Waterloo as they executed to help grow SkinnyPop and Amplify Snack Brands and achieve a sale to Hershey for $1.6 billion. We’re incredibly excited to partner with them as the company embarks on its next stage of growth, tapping into new channels and reaching a broader audience across the U.S.”
Jill Granoff, CEO of Eurazeo Brands, said, “Sparkling water is a large and resilient category, with sales of $4 billion in the U.S. alone growing by double digits annually. Waterloo has experienced phenomenal growth and strong consumer loyalty since launching in 2017, and is well positioned to capture additional market share under the company’s impressive leadership. We look forward to joining forces with Flexis Capital, JW Levin and Moore Strategic Ventures, and partnering with Jason and his team to drive further success.”
Source: Waterloo Sparkling Water
