In a $20B energy drink industry dominated by legacy brands targeting athletic performance, consumers are increasingly seeking products that blend functional benefits with wellness and lifestyle appeal. With only a handful of options meeting stringent health standards at retailers like Whole Foods, there’s a clear gap for an energy solution that doesn’t compromise on ingredients or brand experience. GORGIE is disrupting this space as a community-led, wellness-forward energy drink brand providing all-day energy with clean ingredients and bold flavors. Using green tea caffeine for a 150mg boost, enhanced with Biotin, B Vitamins, and L-Theanine without aspartame, sucralose or erythritol, their products have rapidly gained recognition as the #1 fastest-growing energy drink in the natural channel. Founded by a serial entrepeneur after noticing the lack of female-first brands in the category, GORGIE has effectively built a movement where the community actively participates in product development, with loyal customers reordering approximately every 8 days across all 50 states.
AlleyWatch sat down with GORGIE Founder & CEO Michelle Cordeiro Grant to learn more about the business, its future plans, and recent funding round that brings the company’s total funding raised to $37M.
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
We recently closed our Series A funding round with $24.5M. It was led by Notable Capital who is actually an existing seed investor so their continued support of my vision means so much. Coefficient Capital and individual investors and board members Jason Cohen and Yossi Nasser also participated and supported the round.
Tell us about the product or service that GORGIE offers.
GORGIE is a community-led wellness-forward energy drink brand. This brand and platform is on a mission to make wellness fun with products that give you energy for all day, everyday life. Our wellness energy drinks provide all-day energy with clean ingredients and bold flavor.
What inspired the start of GORGIE?
I never planned on entering the beverage space, nonetheless the energy drink market, but I knew I wanted to create something in wellness with the power of brand.. I liked the idea of bringing all of my vitamins in a convenient package – I was thinking candy, powder, or something else, but when I asked my community and social media, EVERYONE said they wanted a ready to drink! While pondering a wellness drink, I recently moved to Florida and noticed energy drinks in hands everywhere I went. I was shocked when I looked at how vast the industry was and growing, yet there was not a brand that felt female first, with an eye on wellness and brand that I wanted to share and shout. So I went to Whole Foods to find the ones I saw on social media and could not find any of them! The associates there said the ingredients did not meet their health requirements so they could not carry the legacy or trending brands in their stores- and that was the moment I knew exactly what I wanted to do.
How is GORGIE different?
There isn’t a single legacy brand out there focused on building with a truly women-first lens and the power of community with brand. We want products that give us energy, yes, but with added benefits we love for health, wellness and mindfulness. GORGIE proudly uses green tea caffeine for a 150mg boost with added benefits like Biotin, B Vitamins, L-Theanine, without aspartame, sucralose or erythritol.
We’ve also crowdsourced every moment of this journey thus far, and we plan to do so every step of the way. We’re a brand built by followers and friends, driven by community.
What market does GORGIE target and how big is it?
Energy drinks are a $20B industry. GORGIE became the #1 fastest-growing energy drink in the natural channel in 2024, growing the category by 20%. Online customers are ordering on average every 7.9 days, with orders shipping to every state in America every month. It was made to deliver energy that bridges with wellness and is a female first brand, where the community matters so much, they are even shown on our can:). GORGIE is more than a drink, it’s a brand people feel a part of that is incorporated into their daily rituals.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
We’ve recently scaled the business to over 1,900 Target stores nationwide and we’re very lucky to have amazing partners there that believe in us and support our new ideas. We’re looking forward to expanding our products there with a new exclusive drink flavor. We also recently launched our first apparel merch in the courtside collection, and we’re looking forward to expanding further into the space.
Where do you see the company going in the near term?
GORGIE is growing – and not just on shelves! We’re expanding into new retail doors across the country, we’re launching new flavors, we’re bringing more events that our community love to more cities in America, and we’re working on some super fun partnerships with other people and brands that you know and love. To go along with that, we’ll be continuing to release capsule collections that take brand merch to a whole new level.
Across all of these, our goals always stay the same! Make wellness fun, bring the energy, and create a brand people actually want to be a part of.
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