Liquid Death IPO: The Most Metal Stock Ever?

Explore opportunities to invest in the stock pre-IPO, and during the potential kick-ass Liquid Death IPO.

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Notable Liquid Death News

03/11/2024: Liquid Death closes $67 mil round $1.4 billion valuation
07/12/2023: Liquid Death Hires Goldman Sachs, Aiming for 2024 IPO
06/17/2023: Liquid Death is a mind-set. And also just canned water.
04/14/2023: Liquid Death Not Liquid Gold
Older news…

About Liquid Death

Liquid Death Mountain Water is a non-alcoholic beverage company that sells canned sparkling water.

The company deploys clever marketing tactics by leveraging social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram to build its brand. Then sells its products direct to consumers and through a growing list of retailers. 

The About page on the Liquid Death website says:

We’re just a funny water company who hates corporate marketing as much as you do. Our evil mission is to make people laugh and get more of them to drink more water more often, all while helping to kill plastic pollution.

It donates 10% of profits to organizations dedicated to reducing plastic pollution.

Founder and CEO Mike Cessario told Fast Company, “At the end of the day, we’re a brand more than we’re a water company”. Cessario is a former Netflix creative director.

Initially intended for tattoo parlors and “straight edge” death metal and punk fans, Liquid Death marketing is often gory and provocative. 

Liquid Death’s slogan is Murder your thirst.

Strong branding and a fresh cash influx from a Series D capital raise should enable the company to expand into additional healthy beverage categories to fuel growth. 

Liquid Death is available at Amazon (free shipping for Prime members) and brick-and-mortar stores, including 7-11, Target, Whole Foods, Publix, Kroger, and Sheetz.

The product is sourced and canned in the Austrian Alps and manufactured by Supplying Demand, Inc. Drinks come in 16.9 oz. “tall boys” that look like beer cans. 

Early viral videos call water the “deadliest stuff on earth” and joke about death, torture, and gore. 

Ownership

Besides Founder and CEO Mike Cessario, several venture capital firms have invested in Liquid Death, including Science Inc., Velvet Sea Ventures, PowerPlant Partners, Access Capital, SuRo Capital, Gray’s Creek Capital Partners, and Nomad Ventures.

Other notable investors include Biz Stone, Tony Hawk, Live Nation Entertainment, musicians Wiz Khalifa, Steve Aoki, Machine Gun Kelly, Swedish House Mafia, and Derrick Green (Sepultura). Other celebrity investors include, Josh Brolin, DeAndre Hopkins, Neal Brennan (The Chapelle Show), Whitney Cummings, and Jim Jefferies.

Funding Rounds

WordPress Data Table Plugin

Valuation

The Liquid Death valuation is $1.4 billion as of March 2024. The valuation is based on the Series F round that raised $67 million from strategic investors. 

Revenue History

• 2019 – $3 million
• 2020 – Unknown
• 2021 – $45 million
• 2022 – $130 million
• 2023 – $263 million
• 2024 – $333 million

IPO Potential

The Liquid Death IPO date was anticipated to be in 2024, according to reporting by The Information. This timeline has passed, but a forthcoming IPO is still a possibility.

The company hired Goldman Sachs as the lead underwriter in July 2023. The accompanying report suggested the “as soon as” Spring 2024 timeline. 

In an October 2022 Medium blog post, investor Peter Pham of Science Inc., a venture capital firm, suggested that momentum is leading the company toward “beginning to lay the groundwork for the IPO path in case it makes sense for the business…”.

In an October 2022 interview with Yahoo Finance, CEO Mike Cessario said:

I think we’re open to all kinds of different paths for the company. I think IPO path is something we’re definitely going to seriously explore and see what that looks like. There’s no timeline for when that would be or if we would definitely do it or not, but something we’re going to take a look at. Same thing for remaining private, same thing for potential M&A.

Groundwork would include refining corporate accounting best practices, hiring personnel, and talking with investment banks. 

Pham also notes that Liquid Death has grown faster than any previous beverage brand, including Monster. He projects that revenue will double from 2022 to 2023. 

That kind of growth will undoubtedly attract suitors.

But considering the company’s objective to reduce plastic pollution, finding a buyer with similar values may be a tall order.

Acquisition Potential

The two big beverage companies, Coca-Cola and Pepsi, often buy emerging beverage brands before they can slice into market share.

Dasani, Aha (Coca-Cola brands), Aquafina, and Bubly (Pepsi brands) compete in the same category and represent billions in revenue. 

But it’s challenging for the major brands to innovate and create new beverages without significant investment, risk, and cannibalization — and it’s difficult for startups to expand without access to established distribution channels. 

By starting as a direct-to-consumer brand, Liquid Death may be able to avoid this fate. Its product is widely sold on Amazon and is rapidly expanding into retail locations as a private company.

Both mega-brands are significant contributors to global ocean plastic pollution, so it would seem unlikely for Liquid Death to succumb to any overtures since a primary objective is to reduce plastic pollution. 

Other food brands with similar sustainability profiles may emerge as interested buyers.

But like any favorite up-and-coming death metal or punk band, fans hope the brand doesn’t become another sellout. 

How to Buy Liquid Death Stock

Since Liquid Death is not a public company, it is challenging to become an equity owner today.

However, you can become an indirect owner and take steps to improve your chances of early equity ownership or IPO access.

Here are five potential strategies.

1. Buy Live Nation Entertainment Stock (LYV)

Live Nation Entertainment (symbol: LYV) participated in three Liquid Death funding rounds. 

• Series B-1 – May 2021
• Series C – January 2022
• Series D – October 2022

The brands have multiple synergies, including the desire to reduce plastic pollution and a love for music. Live Nation Entertainment aims to make Liquid Death the exclusive water partner at its venues and festivals worldwide. 

By owning shares in Live Nation Entertainment stock, you can own a tiny slice of Liquid Death today. 

You can buy Live Nation Entertainment stock with any online broker.

2. Buy Liquid Death on pre-IPO investing platforms

The author has seen evidence of Liquid Death equity being available on pre-IPO platforms.

Investors can monitor pre-IPO investing platforms for current availability. Prominent pre-IPO platforms include EquityZen, Forge Global, and Hiive. 

If shares become available, expect to pay at least a $5,000 investment minimum. Investors must meet the SEC accreditation standard to be eligible for direct investment. 

Non-accredited retail investors can acquire startup equity via pre-IPO venture capital funds like the Fundrise Innovation Fund (review).

However, you cannot select individual pre-IPO companies, and Liquid Death stock is not in the portfolio at this time.

As companies mature, gain more shareholders, and delay their IPO due to macro conditions, more equity holders may seek liquidation before the IPO. 

Please note: This is a testimonial in partnership with Fundrise. We earn a commission from partner links on AccessIPOs.com. All opinions are my own.

3. Participate in the Liquid Death IPO through a broker

Savvy IPO investors may find opportunities to invest during the IPO if it occurs. That means acquiring shares at the IPO price the night before the company begins trading.

Once reserved for Wall Street’s wealthiest customers, IPO access has become more attainable to retail investors in the past five years. 

Online brokers such as the following give customers free access to IPOs, even with low account balances. 

• TradeStation 
• Robinhood 

Brokers often negotiate exclusive IPO share allocations to retail investors. Your access to specific high-demand IPOs may be limited by how many brokerage accounts you have and what broker gets exclusive access. 

TradeStation has a longer track record of accessing more than 360 IPOs and secondary offerings via its partnership with ClickIPO. 

Robinhood has the advantage of a Silicon Valley network and history of getting allocations for high-profile IPOs.

Check out this list of best brokers for IPO investing to learn more about IPO access for retail investors.

4. Participate in the Liquid Death Directed Share Program (Customers)

Another possibility (far from a certainty) is a directed share program.

When companies file their S-1 SEC filing (to begin the IPO process), they sometimes include a directed share program for executives, affiliates, and others who helped the company grow.

Liquid Death can attribute much of its success to its customers. As such, the company may offer IPO shares to customers. 

This has happened before.

Uber offered shares to drivers who completed a certain number of trips.

GoPro offered shares to its email list. 

Airbnb offered IPO shares to hosts. 

Considering Liquid Death’s unique brand that targets death metal and punk fans who often share their worldview on sustainability, it would be a nice and reasonable perk to offer them IPO access.

I recommend buying Liquid Death merchandise on its website to create an account and get on the email list. Then, monitor emails approaching the IPO for a time-sensitive opportunity. 

Bookmark this page for more information as the IPO approaches.

5. Buy Liquid Death stock after the Liquid Death IPO

Though waiting for the IPO requires patience, there are advantages to waiting for the stock to become publicly traded before owning. 

First of all, the IPO allows investors to review financials. Pre-IPO investing has limited financials available. 

Second, IPO stock prices typically rise with high-demand companies. You can benefit if you’re in early and sell when the price overheats.

Many IPOs start with an immediate price increase (“the pop”). Then the stock falls once quarterly earnings reports become available.

Stock price declines after IPOs can be excellent entry points.

Avoid buying overvalued shares immediately after the IPO. Shares often fall after the IPO due to lockup expirations and quarterly earnings disappointments. 

However, the most disruptive companies will be higher in a decade. Patience pays. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Is Liquid Death Publicly Traded?

No. Liquid Death is not publicly traded. It is a private company.

What is the Liquid Death Stock Price?

Liquid Death is not a public company. Therefore, there is no public Liquid Death stock price or Liquid Death stock symbol yet.

Private stock price information is becoming more available and reliable based on pre-IPO marketplace data and other sources.

However, the stock price is only the value of one share. Like public companies, the underlying valuation metrics, revenue, profitability, and market sentiment toward private companies are more significant factors than the share price.

What is the Liquid Death stock symbol?

Private companies don’t have stock symbols yet. 

Here are a few Liquid Death ticker suggestions that appear to be available in the U.S.:

• DETH
• LDTH
• GUTS
• BLDY

We should hope the marketing geniuses at Liquid Death can come up with something better. 

Where is the Liquid Death IPO S-1 Filing?

Liquid Death has not yet submitted an S-1 filing to the SEC. When the company does, we’ll post it here. 

In the meantime, you can check out the most recent S-1 filings in our S-1 filings feed. 

Is Liquid Death Just Water?

Yeah, pretty much. Both still and sparkling water.

The products are non-alcoholic. 

What Does Liquid Death Taste Like?

I’m a regular sparkling water drinker. I consume one or two cans every day. 

My favorite brands are Waterloo and Bubly.

So while writing this article, I ordered a 12-pack of Berry it Alive tall boys from Amazon. It arrived the next day.

The drink is sweeter than normal sparkling water. That makes it a bit more thirst-quenching than my usual brands. 

But the sweetness tastes a bit artificial to me, but not bad. There’s a bit of an aftertaste. 

The bubbles feel smaller in my mouth compared to my favorite brands. So I try to drink it faster, as my mind thinks it will go flat like the bottom of a 16-ounce beer. 

It does start to go flat toward the end. 

There are 3 grams of sugar from agave nectar in each can. The website says the carbonation is lower and more similar to a beer. That seems about right. 

The ingredients include natural flavorings of passion fruit, mixed berry, hibiscus, and black cherry.

The passion fruit is the most dominant to my palate, then mixed berry. I didn’t get much of the hibiscus or black cherry. 

Overall, I like it. But it will not replace my usual brands. 

Liquid Death News Archive

11/26/2022: How a 40-year-old founder turned ‘the dumbest name’ into sales
11/19/2022: Turning Water Into $700 Million
10/29/2022: How Liquid Death Became Gen Z’s La Croix
10/20/2022: Liquid Death CEO: IPO Something to “Seriously explore”
10/14/2022: Liquid Death is looking at a future beyond canned water
10/06/2022: Martha Stewart Partners With Liquid Death
10/03/2022: Leading Liquid Death’s Series D
10/03/2022: Liquid Death Water Startup Valued at $700 Million
01/03/2022: Liquid Death lands $75M more to expand the brand

Conclusion

Liquid Death is a brand unlike any other. It has charted a unique path to growth using humor, viral social media posts, a Superbowl commercial, and unexpected celebrity endorsements (e.g., Martha Stewart, Tony Hawk).

The product itself is nothing out of the ordinary. Just water in a different container.

But as CEO Cessario said, the company is a brand builder that can expand into new products that are healthy and reduce plastic pollution. 

Should investors try to buy Liquid Death stock when it becomes available? It depends on the valuation when an investment opportunity becomes available.

An investment thesis should also look at how the brand plans to expand its business beyond water. That strategy has yet to be disclosed. We’ve seen massive, sustained growth trajectories by Monster and Red Bull, so investors know what’s possible. But Liquid Death is still a young company.

Can Liquid Death be the next billion-dollar beverage company? It’s almost there. We’ll learn where it goes next in the coming years.