“Shark Tank” is full of success stories and failures with investors like Kevin O’Leary and Mark Cuban investing in companies that appear on the popular investment pitch show for entrepreneurs.
A $1.9 billion acquisition by PepsiCo PEP announced Monday traces its roots back to an appearance on “Shark Tank” and both Cuban and O’Leary passed on investing in the company.
“Shark Tank” Success Story: On Monday, PepsiCo announced the $1.9 billion acquisition of fast-growing prebiotic soda company poppi.
The company has grown over the years and grew increased national attention with Super Bowl commercials in both 2024 and 2025.
Monday’s acquisition put a spotlight back on the company’s 2018 appearance on “Shark Tank,” when the company was then known as Mother Beverage.
Husband and wife co-founders Stephen and Allison Ellsworth appeared on the “Shark Tank” episode seeking $400,000 for a 10% stake in their company.
The duo may have scared away early interest having the sharks take shots of an undisclosed beverage, which turned out to be apple cider vinegar. The taste test was done to highlight how Allison had concocted beverages that included apple cider vinegar and tasted good.
While the sharks agreed that many of the samples tasted good, they quickly exited and left only one guest shark to make an offer.
Guest shark Bethenny Frankel said it was a disaster to manufacture the beverages themselves and couldn’t believe they didn’t have a partner.
“You’re still in the kitchen,” Frankel said before she said she was out on any deal.
O’Leary said every beverage company comes into “Shark Tank” and says the future is so bright that you have to wear shades.
“The valuation is insane,” O’Leary said, announcing he was out on the deal.
 Cuban told the couple his fear was they would have to raise a lot more money.
“As much as I would like to help a Dallas company, I’m out,” Cuban said.
Shark Lori Greiner also exited telling the couple that she would be a customer, but not a partner.
The last remaining shark was guest shark Rohan Oza, who had experience in the consumer products sector.
“Beverage is savage,” Oza said.
The investor said the mathematics for a company that’s done $250,000 in sales in three months would have to have a different equity stake that they probably wouldn’t like.
“For $400k for me to get interested, it’s got to be like 25% stake,” Oza said.
The other sharks encouraged the couple to take the deal.
“We’d love to do business with you,” Stephen Ellsworth said.
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Fast Growth: Allison Ellsworth told a portion of her story of struggling with weight and turning to apple cider vinegar during their “Shark Tank” pitch. She mixed fruit juices with apple cider vinegar in her Dallas kitchen to create tasty products.
The products were later bottled up and sold at local farmers’ markets. At the market, a Whole Foods buyer helped them land a regional deal with the retailer.
While on “Shark Tank,” the couple also said they had signed a national deal with Albertson’s.
A “Shark Tank” update on the company revealed that since their episode aired, the team scrapped the idea of a bottling plant and went with co-packers, a strategy that would likely make Frankel proud. The company also launched cans alongside their bottles.
In 2000, the company was in over 2,000 stores including Walmart and Whole Foods, alongside online sales on Amazon.
After appearing on “Shark Tank,” the couple took part in a rebrand to poppi. The brand eventually landed more nationwide retail space and was able to partner with some top celebrity names such as Post Malone, Hailey Bieber, Kylie Jenner, Billie Eilish, Russell Westbrook, Jennifer Lopez, Olivia Munn and more.
As of April 2024, the company had annual revenue of $50 million. Oza said over the years that poppi would become “Shark Tank’s” first billion-dollar brand.
Pepsi Acquisition: A tweet from Darren Rovell says Oza’s VC CAVU Consumer Partners put in $25 million over the years before the sale to Pepsi.
The appearance on “Shark Tank” gets credit in the deal announcement by Pepsi Monday saying the brand was “discovered” on the show by Oza and funded by CAVU Consumer Partners “from their initial seed round to today.”
“poppi is a true testament to the American Dream! From the kitchen to Shark Tank to becoming an iconic brand, this couldn’t have been done without the amazing founders Allison and Stephen Ellsworth, the incredible team in place led by CEO Chris Hall, the unmatched support of CAVU’s Uncommon team led by Stevie Clements, and the extraordinary poppi community,” Oza said.
Oza said the PepsiCo partnership will help even more consumers around the world enjoy poppi.
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