"In short order, Vita Coco found itself in direct competition with the dominant players in global (non-alcoholic) beverages. What happened subsequently is noteworthy (including reported talks in 2017 for PepsiCo to acquire Vita Coco for a price that approached $1 billion): in 2021, Coca-Cola sold Zico back to its founder. Later that year, PepsiCo sold a number of its North American juice brands to a private equity firm, including its coconut water portfolio (preceded by a $41 million impairment charge in 2020 “related to a coconut water brand” in the company’s North American beverages segment).

Summarizing the developments of the past two decades, Vita Coco has weathered both heightened competitive concerns and industry fluctuations (“retail-store sales of coconut water fell to $528 million in 2019, down 22% from 2015”). As Kirban noted at the time of the IPO, “we pushed [Coca-Cola and PepsiCo] out of the market through our supply chain skills… they were bad at cracking coconuts.” The essentially nonexistent U.S. coconut water category from the mid-2000’s now has retail sales approaching $700 million annually (it’s still just ~0.5% of the U.S. beverage market). Vita Coco is the category leader, with ~50% U.S. market share."