Allison Ellsworth banked nearly $2 billion selling Poppi to PepsiCo in May 2025, then promptly discovered she still could not convince herself to drink water.
The 38 year old founder spent a decade building the prebiotic soda brand, neglecting routine doctor visits and exercise along the way. Her sudden windfall came with a three year advisory role, yet it also created space for golf, GLP-1 medication, family time, and a regular workout schedule. One habit remained stubbornly unchanged. Her husband Stephen Ellsworth, Poppi’s former CEO, had long joked about her chronic dehydration. So he asked a former employee to develop a hydration drink his own family would actually consume.
That request spawned Jetty, Ellsworth’s second beverage venture, which launches Monday. The company sells bottled drinks and electrolyte powder packets aimed at “normal people” rather than athletes or hungover partiers. “It’s a solution to boring water,” Ellsworth said, noting she wanted something more natural than brightly colored sports drinks for her kids after soccer games. “You can drink three of these a day. It’s just not that deep.” She added that holding a Gatorade bottle does not feel particularly appealing.
When Ellsworth tasted an early Jetty prototype, she turned to her husband and asked, “Are we really doing this again?” The couple has returned to familiar roles: she serves as chief brand officer, he as CEO. Jetty enters a hydration market worth $10.5 billion in annual sales, a fraction of the $159 billion total beverage industry, according to Nielsen IQ data.
Launching a second company after a successful exit carries clear advantages. Jetty debuts immediately at Target, Amazon, and Whole Foods nationwide, compressing roughly two years of brand building into a single day. The founders have startup capital and can delay seeking outside funding. “The pressure is a little bit off of generational legacy and wealth,” Ellsworth said.
Competitors already crowd the aisle. Nuun sells electrolyte tablets positioned for everyday hydration, and most Americans get adequate electrolytes from food alone, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Still, EY-Parthenon analysts see a consumer shift toward functional beverages, with Gen Z shoppers drawn to flavor and wellness positioning. Ellsworth faces the challenge of convincing buyers that Jetty genuinely improves their lives, not just their Instagram feeds.
She remains unfazed. “People laughed at me when I was like, ‘I’m creating a better fruit soda,'” she said. “Now it’s like, ‘Hold my Jetty.'”
