It's never been a better time to "murder your thirst."
Seven months after raising more than $9 million in Series A funding, Santa Monica-based canned water startup Liquid Death has raised $23 million in Series B funding.
The round was led by an unnamed consumer-focused family office and participated in by Convivialité Ventures, Fat Mike (NOFX), Pat McAfee, existing investor in Velvet Sea Ventures and others.
<p>Co-founded by a former Netflix-linked creative director Mike Cessario, the Science Inc.-backed company said in a statement that it is going through a high-growth period and "setting online records every month" after rolling out to more than 1,700 new stores, including Whole Foods Markets, since its last raise. Cessario said that "the funding will go to fuel that growth."</p><p>Their water that sells for $15.99 for a 12 pack is carried in thousands of stores nationally, including bars, tattoo parlors, cafes, liquor stores and more than 1,000 7-Elevens in Southern California. A company representative said their canned tallboys are the fastest growing water brand in Whole Foods and it has broken its own record on overall sales monthly since March.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDQzOTk5MS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NDMzMjA4NH0.dmPPTdwLqWgXtMo4n2RuxAOJ_8WdzV3lNGvAPPPiYxY/image.jpg?width=980" id="cf1eb" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0b7e5d045f61a05a5c8dab7f01dc790e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
</p><p>Liquid Death has positioned its tallboys of still and sparkling canned water as an environmentally-friendly alternative to plastic water bottles — with a bad-boy panache. Along those lines, as part of its #DeathToPlastics initiative, the company gives 10% of profits on every can sold to nonprofits helping to fight plastic pollution and bring clean drinking water to people in need.<br/></p><p>Liquid Death has also upped the ante on its infamous "murder your thirst" tagline, <a href="https://dot.la/liquid-death-metal-album-2645888623.html" target="_self">releasing a heavy metal album of hateful comments</a> its product has received, and giving people the chance to <a href="https://liquiddeath.com/pages/sell-your-soul" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">sell their soul</a> "for real. Legally binding for eternity" to join its Liquid Death Country Club. It touts more than 5,000 recurring monthly subscribers. The company uses dark humor and an irreverency to drive marketing -—for example, by offering a "fuck Corona special."</p><p>The Securities and Exchange Commission filing shows the company aimed to raise $23 million but was shy $1.9 million. A company spokeswoman said the last two wires didn't come through until after the filing.</p><p><span></span>__</p><p><em>Do you have a story that needs to be told? My DMs are open on </em><a href="https://twitter.com/latams" target="_blank"><em>Twitter @latams</em></a><em>. You can also email me, or ask for my Signal.</em></p>
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The very angry sounding man throatily roars:
Quality woman repellent. Bankrupt in no time. Fire the guy who came up with this pitch. And everyone who signed off on it. That name makes me not wanna drink your water. Fire your marketing guy.
This is not your average heavy metal album. In fact, the lyrics are entirely composed of little anti-ditties, if you will, of real word-for-word hate comments from social media commenters and online reviewers who for some reason are very angry about Liquid Death Mountain Water.
<p>
<em>This is a disgrace. Your soul is worth a lot more Than a case of water. My soul belongs to my heavenly father Who gave it to me To use until he needs it back. This crap is pure evil in the works.</em>
</p><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="500" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Jgqi5J4reTE" width="100%">
</iframe><p>
The brand, which provides water in a tallboy can with the tagline "Murder Your Thirst," has typically used tongue-in-cheek humor for easily viral marketing. (On their website, for example, they're currently offering a "Fuck Corona Special," which includes special bulk pricing on cases.)
</p><p>
<em>Why, why would I buy something That leads me to believe I am going to die from drinking it? Liquid death! This [sic] probably the dumbest product I have ever seen. Bad marketing.</em>
</p><p>
On Friday, Liquid Death, a Santa Monica-based canned-water startup, released its first-ever music album, titled the "Greatest Hates," which includes song titles like "Huge Tools (Every Single Person Involved)," "Reconsider Your Life Choices," "Selling Your Soul is Deplorable," and "Fire Your Marketing Guy."
</p><p>
<em>So you were expecting us to ingest, Something that's labeled "Liquid Death"?! I wish these owners would go on Shark Tank Just so I can see them get slaughtered For naming their water "Liquid Death"</em>
</p><p>
The songs are available on Spotify and YouTube, too. The company worked with legit musicians and producers that includes Gus Rios, who played drums for the death metal group "Malevolent Creation,"; Matt LaPlant, who has worked with artists like Justin Bieber, Jennifer Lopez, and also Malevolent Creation; Seth Ringler, a guitarist with "Upon Infliction"; Torin Ridgeway, does lead vocals here, of "Arsis"; and Jim Malone of "Arsis."
</p><p>
<em>Bit over the top. The fact that you have an option To "sell your soul" is deplorable. Try a new sales pitch That isn't for satan worshippers.</em>
</p><p>
Co-founded by a former Netflix-linked creative director Mike Cessario, Science Inc.-backed Liquid Death raised $9 million in Series A funding led by Velvet Sea Ventures in February. Cessario said amid the pandemic, the cans are selling well after its recent launch at Whole Foods Markets. But clearly, despite winning over venture capitalists, it has a lot of haters, too. In the newest album, available in vinyl, the company channels that rage into a bit of art and entertainment, that's like their other company tagline, "proudly not for everyone."
</p><p>
"If you have something that people truly love so much that they're actually tattooing the brand name on their bodies like they are with Liquid Death you're going to have people who hate it," Cessario said.
</p><p>
The timing has also worked out in a way, even though the album has been months in the works.
</p><p>
"People want humor and levity right now, more than ever," Cessario said. "We're trying to make light of things, even though it's really a dark time."
</p><p>
On a more serious note, Liquid Death has created
<a href="https://liquiddeath.com/pages/deathpeddlersunited" target="_blank">a profit-sharing program to help bars and bands impacted by COVID-19</a>. The company will give 50% of the profits to "death peddlers" who bring in new revenue from fans and followers who make purchases using a unique code.
</p><p>
Here's one more for the road:
</p><p>
<em>I'm not sure there is any way possible To make the water seem less appealing. Disgusting name. Decomposing head on can. Water is not actually visible. In public or at work??? Looks like you're drinking Corner-store malt liquor</em>
</p><p><em><a href="https://www.dropbox.com/s/dvewiu5wyzd2f2e/Greatest%20Hates%20Song%20Names%20and%20Lyrics%20.pdf?dl=0" target="_blank">Read the full lyrics here</a></em></p><iframe src="https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify:album:35MCONvg1s2g8KqgxEEnAw" id="7775d" frameborder="0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a35fb63ac9f27415ad121aad1094d2b4" expand="1" height="480" width="100%"></iframe><p>
<em>Do you have a story that needs to be told? My DMs are open on Twitter </em><a href="https://twitter.com/latams" target="_blank"><em>@latams</em></a><em>. You can also email me, or ask for my Signal.</em><br/>
</p>
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A water brand that wants to "murder your thirst," a live-streaming app to watch your kid's high school basketball games, and a rocket maker that uses 3D printers to launch astronauts into space all have one thing in common. They are among the top 50 hottest startups in greater L.A. right now in the first edition of our quarterly dot.LA/PitchBook rankings.
<p>"Los Angeles has grown into a vibrant venture ecosystem over the past few years and is now seeing more than 700 completed VC financings each year," said Kyle Stanford, a PitchBook venture capital analyst. </p><p> "The city has a very consumer-focused vibe to its venture activity, so it's not surprising that more than half of these 50 top-growth companies fall into consumer-centric industries such as e- commerce, wellness and gaming," he said. "Recently, the area has also amassed huge amounts of capital that will help L.A. continue growing into a hub of tech and venture over the next few years."</p><p>The first-quarter rankings were compiled using not only money raised, but other factors that signal growth -- including size of the company, social media buzz, and internet traffic, according to PitchBook. Topping the list is Los Angeles-based Dave, which aims to be a friendlier bank. The company enables consumers to open a checking account with no minimum balance and no overdraft fees.</p><p>Most uniquely, users can get a cash advance before their next paycheck of up to $100 with no credit check and no interest. Instead, Dave asks for something unheard of in financial services: an optional tip. </p><p>Instead of a traditional payday loan and the rapacious interest rates associated with them, Dave wants users to think of its cash advance as akin to asking a friend to spot them some cash – without the awkward conversations. Dave says about half of users have chosen to leave a tip. The service now boasts six million users with another two million people on the waiting list.</p><p>"The vision of the company is one that has resonated with a lot of people," co-founder and CEO Jason Wilk told dot.LA. "We really are out to solve people's financial pains."</p><p>Wilk co-founded the company in 2016 after personally experiencing what it was like living paycheck to paycheck on $30,000 a year. </p><p>When asked to describe what it looks like to be one of L.A. 's fastest growing companies, Wilk says to look no further than Dave's rapidly expanding footprint in Mid-City. In their first office in 2016, five employees were greatly outnumbered by co-occupants at a noisy production company. By the beginning of 2018, Dave was growing fast enough to be able to take over the entire building.</p><p>"Now we're in several buildings," said Wilk. "It's been amazing to see."</p><p>The company now has 117 employees and plans to hire 58 more this year, fueled by the $50 million in Series B-1 venture funding it received last August from Norwest Venture Partners, the large fund backed primarily by Wells Fargo. The latest round puts the company's pre-money valuation at $950 million, according to PitchBook. </p><p>Los Angeles is not known for its financial technology companies, but Wilk says he doesn't think of Dave as Fintech. "We really view the company as just a consumer product that happens to be Fintech," he said.</p><p>Here are the rest of the dot.LA/PitchBook hottest companies: </p><div class="rm-embed embed-media"><iframe class="airtable-embed" frameborder="0" height="533" onmousewheel="" src="https://airtable.com/embed/shrWN5hdXdheYv3Zy?backgroundColor=yellowLight&viewControls=on" style="background: transparent; border: 1px solid #ccc;" width="100%"></iframe></div><p>What gets a company on the list? For one thing, Pitchbook and dot.LA started with only companies founded between 2015-2020. The results were tabulated using proprietary data supplied by Pitchbook. Of note, Hollar (marked by ** in the chart) was the <a href="https://www.axios.com/online-dollar-store-hollar-wind-down-2b5a47bd-88c3-4e61-8251-fc1ab7c0fecc.html" target="_blank">subject of an Axios story,</a> citing unnamed sources, that the discount retailer might be in the process of winding down or selling to a bigger competitor. dot.LA could not confirm that report. </p><p>Then PitchBook data scientists assigned a growth rate and size multiple equally. The growth rate represents the average weekly percentage change in a company's signals. It is calculated by averaging the weekly growth rate over a trailing eight-week period. For example, let's say a company's Web Growth Rate (SimilarWeb Unique Visitors and Majestic Referring Domains) was 10% each week for 4 weeks, and followed by an increase of 30% for the next 4 weeks. During that eight-week period, the combined weekly average growth rate was 20%.</p><p>The size multiple is the sum of a company's signals divided by the median company signal size. For example, if a company had 1000 SimilarWeb Unique Visitors and the universal median for all companies in the platform was 500 SimilarWeb Unique Visitors, then the company's SimilarWeb Size Multiple would be 2x. A company's overall Size Multiple is calculated by averaging the Size Multiples from the following Signals: Social, Web, Employee, and Mobile Size.</p>
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