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MicroVentures’ Portfolio Company: Liquid Death’s History and Milestones

MicroVentures’ Portfolio Company: Liquid Death’s History and Milestones

Plastic water bottles aren’t cool. Or at least Mike Cessario doesn’t think so. Liquid Death has made a name for itself in the consumer-packaged goods space, not just in its name itself, but also in its edgy marketing, social following, notable partnerships, and customer traction. In this blog, learn more about Liquid Death’s history and milestones, Liquid Death’s founding story, its products, funding rounds, and future plans.

Liquid Death’s History and Milestones

The concept for Liquid Death was born out of Warped Tour in 2008. Founder and CEO Mike Cessario was talking to band members and learned that the energy drink cans the artists were drinking out of were filled with water. Due to sponsorship requirements, they had to represent those energy drinks but wanted to stay hydrated while performing. Between this experience at Warped Tour with Cessario’s own experience playing in bands, he took the plunge in 2019 to launch Liquid Death. He put mountain water in aluminum tall boy cans to appeal to young, edgy consumers while still maintaining a punk rock appearance suitable for both the rock bands that had played Warped Tour and the fans that enjoyed the live music experience.

The Early Days

Cessario knew that to appeal to his target audience, his marketing strategy needed to be as edgy as the customers he wanted to capture. “What is the dumbest possible idea we could do for this?” is a marketing thesis still echoed by the brand today. That’s exactly how the company name was conceived: Liquid Death was probably the dumbest possible name for water.

Viral Marketing

Once the company had a name, it needed to get the word out about the brand. Enter the dumbest possible commercial, posted on Facebook before the company even had any physical products to sell. With a background in advertising, Cessario spent $1500 on a low-budget video that featured a “professional actor” waterboarding an assumed marketing executive with a can of Liquid Death mountain water. Featuring raunchy language and poking fun at plastic-bottled water brands and their marketing efforts, the video garnered 3M views in four months, the company’s Facebook page captured more followers than Aquafina at the time, and enabled Liquid Death to raise $1.6M in seed funding to produce its first cans of product.

Liquid Death’s Products

Liquid Death originally launched in 2019 with just two products, mountain water and sparkling mountain water. Available in 12 fl oz, 16.9 fl oz tall boys, and 19.2 fl oz king sizes, Liquid Death cans are filled with 100% mountain water, made in America, can be infinitely recyclable, and a portion of the proceeds are donated to help the company’s “Death to Plastic” initiative.

Liquid Death Mountain Water
Liquid Death Mountain Water

Flavored Sparkling Water

Liquid Death also released a line of flavored sparkling waters featuring edgy names, no artificial sweeteners, 2-4 grams of sugar, and 10-20 calories. Some of its flavors include:

  • Severed Lime (Lime)
  • Mango Chainsaw (Mango)
  • Grave Fruit (Grapefruit, lime, and orange)
  • Cherry Obituary (Cherry, lime, and lemon)
  • Squeezed to Death (Tangerine and blood orange)

It also released limited-edition flavors that were available for various periods of time including:

  • Deathberry Inferno (Strawberry and ghost pepper)
  • Psycho Cider (Apple, pear, and cinnamon)
  • Pina Killada (Pina colada)
  • Hot Fudge Sundae
  • Cereal Criminal (Fruity Pebbles)
Liquid Death Sparkling Water
Liquid Death Sparkling Water

Soda-Inspired Sparkling Water

In 2025, Liquid Death also announced it was releasing soda-flavored sparkling waters that feature 1/10th of the sugar of a traditional soda. These flavors include:

  • Killer Cola
  • Rootbeer Wrath
  • Doctor Death

Liquid Death Soda-Inspired Sparkling Water

Iced Teas

In addition to its various forms and flavors of water, Liquid Death also has released various iced tea flavors, also packaged in aluminum cans. These flavors include:

  • Grim Leafer (Sweet Tea)
  • Rest in Peach (Peach)
  • Dead Billionaire (Half tea half lemonade)
  • Slaughter Berry (Raspberry)
  • Blueberry Buzzsaw (Blueberry)
  • Green Guillotine (Green tea)
Liquid Death Teas
Liquid Death Teas

Sparkling Energy

In July 2025, Liquid Death announced that it will be releasing a line of better-for-you Sparkling Energy drinks. With an “unextreme” caffeine level of 100 milligrams, these twelve-ounce skinny cans are expected to be priced around $2.59 to $3, roughly the same price as competitors. Planned flavors include:

  • Tropical Terror
  • Scary Strawberry
  • Orange Horror
  • Murder Mystery
Liquid Death Sparkling Energy
Liquid Death Sparkling Energy

Liquid Death Milestones

Over the years, Liquid Death has reached numerous milestones in terms of traction, revenue, and awards. Some of its recent milestones are, but not limited to, the following:

  • Seeking to raise up to $20M in new capital as of June 2025, which would bring total debt and equity funding to $300M+
  • Expects to generate $340M in revenue this year, up ~40% from the $240M in revenue it brought in in 2024
  • Retail sales reached $333M in 2024, up almost $27% from 2023
  • Achieved a six-year compound annual growth rate of ~122% since 2019
  • Its products are available in 133k+ retail locations across the U.S. such as Target, Walmart, Whole Foods, and 7-Eleven
  • Partnership with Live Nation to be the exclusive water brand at Live Nation’s 120+ music festivals and concerts
  • Reportedly aiming for a potential initial public offering (IPO) in early 2026

Liquid Death Funding

Liquid Death has raised ~$267.6M in its 6-year history and was valued at $1.4B as of its last funding round in March 2024. Its most recent funding round brought in ~$67M in new funding. The funds were raised to help support product innovation, and new flavored sparkling waters and iced tea flavors that were launched in Spring 2024. As of June 2025, the company was seeking up to $20M in new capital to expand its production capacity and support distribution efforts.

Final Thoughts

Liquid Death’s edgy marketing and deathly branding aim to help environmental concerns and provide a healthier alternative to energy drinks and alcohol, all while making water cool again. Its original bootstrapped marketing efforts have grown into a nationally recognized brand over the past six years, and it will be interesting to see what new flavors Liquid Death comes up with next.

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The information presented here is for general informational purposes only and is not intended to be, nor should it be construed or used as, comprehensive offering documentation for any security, investment, tax or legal advice, a recommendation, or an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, an interest, directly or indirectly, in any company. Investing in both early-stage and later-stage companies carries a high degree of risk. A loss of an investor’s entire investment is possible, and no profit may be realized. Investors should be aware that these types of investments are illiquid and should anticipate holding until an exit occurs.