Suja Juice Acquires Wellness Shots Company Vive Organic

Immunity-boosting shots company, Vive Organic, has been acquired by Paine Schwartz Partners’ portfolio company Suja Life for an undisclosed sum, amping up their competition with fellow players in the space, including So Good So You.

Evercore
EVR
served as financial advisor to Paine Schwartz Partners, and Kirkland & Ellis served as its legal advisor. Houlihan Lokey served as financial advisor to Vive Organic.

The cold-pressed juice maker was founded in 2015 by a team of holistic medical professionals using organic and non-GMO superfoods. Vive Organic has previously raised $15.99 million through a combination of series B and series B-1 venture funding in a deal led by Monogram Capital in 2020, PitchBook showed. Other backers included Cambridge Companies SPG and PowerPlant Partners.

Filipp Chebotarev, Partner and COO at Cambridge Companies SPG, and Polina Chebotareva Mudrick, Partner of the firm, note how they invested in Vive Organic when it was just entering the market, and have seen overwhelming demand for the product.

“Today, our view is that consumer demand for fresh will continue to grow at a category leading pace,” the sibling duo told me. “We are proud to be part of Vive Organic. We are grateful to the entire Vive Organic’s team for their flawless execution and exceeding the projections initially set forth.”

Vive Organic’s cofounder and CEO Wyatt Taubman will maintain his role in the company upon completion of the deal, which is expected to help both brands improve operational capabilities, enhance marketing and sales efforts, extend innovation reach, and scale, according to a public statement.

Taubman said in a statement: “Every member of the Vive Organic team works tirelessly to inspire more people to start their own holistic wellness journey. In just five years, our team has built the fastest-growing juice shot company in the country. Becoming part of Suja will not only accelerate our efforts and enable us to grow the combined business to even higher heights, but also further amplify our mission with a broader group of consumers.”

Meanwhile, Suja Life, which has previously received a significant investment from Coca-Cola
KO
, was acquired by the private equity group in 2021 when its annual sales reportedly hit $200 million.

“Ten years ago, Suja set out with a vision to make organic fresh-pressed juices available to everyone. The addition of Vive Organic strengthens our offerings and accelerates our mission to build one of the foremost healthy beverage platforms in the world,” added Bob DeBorde, CEO of Suja. “We have a shared focus on prioritizing sustainable, ethical extraction and production processes, as well as a similar purpose of helping consumers take charge of their wellness journeys. We are excited about building on each company’s momentum and, together, we will innovate the next generation of wellness offerings.”

Vive Organic’s offerings are currently available across U.S. retailers, including Whole Foods, Target
TGT
, Kroger and Albertsons
ACI
, as well as online through Amazon
AMZN
. The deal will help the company further expand its product offerings, and widen its distribution, Kevin Schwartz, CEO of Paine Schwartz Partners, believes.

“Suja has made substantial progress executing its growth strategies since our initial investment, and the addition of Vive Organic is an important next step in the Company’s evolution,” he said. “We continue to believe in the significant value creation opportunities in the better-for-you space, and with this transaction, Suja is even better positioned to capture them.”