Poppi Founders Aim Jetty at $13 Billion Sports Drink Market

PeppsiCo paid $1.95 billion for Poppi in May 2025, and the husband-and-wife team behind the prebiotic soda — Allison and Stephen Ellsworth — are now trying to do it all over again with Jetty, a hydration brand aimed squarely at the $13 billion sports and performance drink category.

Only this time they're not targeting elite athletes. They're targeting everyone else: commuters, students, parents, anyone trying to stay hydrated on an ordinary Tuesday.

As with Poppi, the idea came from Allison's own health frustrations. Poppi grew out of her chronic stomach issues; Jetty grew out of her inability to find an electrolyte drink she could actually finish.

"She was either drinking Liquid IV or LMNT, but ended up only being able to drink a portion of those sticks because there was so much sodium in those sticks that it was making her bloated or upset her stomach," Stephen Ellsworth, Jetty's CEO, told Inside Retail.

What does Jetty actually sell?

The products launched November 9 as ready-to-drink beverages and ready-to-mix powders in five flavors. Each contains six grams of sugar, sweetened with organic cane sugar, coconut water concentrate and pear juice concentrate. No artificial colors, dyes or sweeteners — a deliberate swipe at the ingredient lists of incumbent electrolyte brands.

"That was really the 'aha' moment for us to say, 'Hey, are consumers actually consuming a hydrating product daily?' Okay, now let's make them a product that is actually good for them," Ellsworth said.

Distribution is deliberately narrow. Jetty sells through its direct-to-consumer site, Whole Foods stores across the US, and online at Target and Amazon. An in-store Target rollout is planned for early 2027.

"You're not going to find us at the convenience store on the corner or the gas station," Ellsworth said. "We wanted to specifically go after places [like Target and Whole Foods] where we believe our consumer is shopping. The early adopters and innovators, the folks who are looking for new and unique brands, and are excited to talk about it and excited to discover and share."

Is this just the Poppi playbook again?

Not quite. Poppi built Gen Z buzz through brightly colored packaging, an aggressive TikTok strategy, Coachella activations and Super Bowl ads featuring musician Charli XCX and influencer Alix Earle. Ellsworth says Jetty will take a different route, because the channels have moved.

"Poppi created a great framework," he said. "The things that we fundamentally do today [to build Jetty] are going to be different than what we did at Poppi because times have changed. We're evaluating different avenues and channels like TikTok Shop and what creates awareness and puts us front and centre in culture."

The pre-launch was pure Ellsworth. On October 13, weeks before launch, Allison teased the venture in an Instagram video telling followers to "mark their calendars." Early posts — a gua sha tool, skincare-style packaging — hinted at a beauty brand, keeping the category a mystery. Pre-launch email and SMS sign-ups offered the chance to win a custom "J-Card."

"It's been super, super fun all the buzz and conversation built around this brand that we're launching with Jetty, an everyday, anti-dehydration drink," Ellsworth said.

Where's the celebrity campaign?

There isn't one — yet. Instead, the founders are building an organic community and giving consumers sneak previews of upcoming developments, rather than spending on expensive in-person activations.

"It's really important to incubate the brand, build a small audience of people that are really excited about your product, rather than trying to cater to everybody," Ellsworth said.

The content bet is longer-form. Allison has hired a production crew to follow the couple as they build Jetty, filming YouTube videos about their ambition to create another billion-dollar brand — chaotic Saturday mornings with the kids included.

"It's a different style than the typical influencer content creator. There's more substance behind it," he explained. "It's filming what we do with the kids and what real life looks like. Just because we had a two-billion exit with Poppi doesn't mean Saturday mornings aren't chaotic with the kids and getting to sports practice and doing all of these other things that just happen as part of life. It's showing all of those real-life things, but also meetings with the team and what we're doing to build a billion-dollar business again."

What does this change for the Ellsworths' exit math?

Nothing, for now. The founders are in no rush to build a portfolio, take outside capital, or sell.

"My mantra is do fewer things better, so I'm narrowly focused on building Jetty, and want that to be successful," Ellsworth said. "I always like to have optionality, so there are a few routes we can take, like selling, going public or acquiring brands and building a platform of our own. Right now, we're not in a huge rush and don't want to take outside capital that would make us do so. We want to lean in and ultimately do what's best for the business in the long term."

"We've got a lot of work to do in front of us," he said. A $13 billion category, five flavors and no outside investors — that's the scoreboard for now.