From superfood-enhanced coffees to spirit-less cocktails, the market for more natural and healthier beverage alternatives has never been stronger — even when it comes to energy drinks. Energy drink brand Key was founded by two former beverage giant executives, Karishma Thawani and Tekla Back, to tap into the growing demand for better-for-you beverages. The brand’s name was inspired by its star ingredient, ketones, an organic compound that the body makes as an alternative fuel source
ource when glucose is in short supply.
Ketones don’t cause the same “sugar shock” and “caffeine jitters” as other energy drinks on the market and may have additional dose-dependent advantages, such as improved cognitive benefits and metabolic health, according to the co-founders.
Key officially launched last week, with an impressive US$4 million seed round led by AgFunder, one of the world’s most active food-tech and agricultural tech investment funds. Alethia Ventures and SIJ Impact Fund, an environmental-social-governance (ESG) focused venture capital co-managed by AgFunder and SDG Impact Japan, also provided funding.
In addition to launching a direct-to-consumer (DTC) site and Amazon storefront, Key will roll out its first line of beverages at the luxury grocery chain Erewhon, and will launch in a further 150 stores across New York, primarily in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Hamptons.
According to market research company Mordor Intelligence, the energy drinks market alone is estimated to be worth about US$74 billion by the end of 2024 and is expected to reach US$104 billion by 2030, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 5.83 percent during this period.
From Coco-Cola to co-founding a brand
Thawani and Back have more than 25 years of combined experience in the food and beverage industry, including several years working for Coca-Cola and Pepsi, respectively.
Telka worked for “Team Blue” (Pepsi) and Thawani worked for “Team Red” (Coca-Cola), but now, the co-founders joked, they’re working for “Team Green”.
As Manuel Gonzalez, general partner at AgFunder, pointed out, “Tekla and Karishma are the embodiment of founder market fit. Every time I talk to them, I like this company better, and every time I drink a Key [beverage], I feel the long-lasting energy, and when I read the simplicity of the label, I see a great company in the making.”
Before entering the workforce, Back “started off life as a scientist”. She received a physics degree from the University of Oxford and has “been obsessed by this intersection of health and nutrition for a very long time,” she said.
Their shared interest in living a sugar-free lifestyle brought Back and Thawani together, first personally, then professionally.
As Back recalled, “Neither one of us eats sugar, neither one of us eats meat, we’re super passionate about health and wellness and we really aligned with each other on fundamental levels, which then made working together really easy.”
The proverbial lightbulb moment came when the two worked on a consulting project and struggled to find healthy energy drinks to get them through the long, mentally exhausting shifts. They realised they could use their combined talents to create the product that they — and other energy-seeking consumers — were looking for.
Back had previously started Keho, a Keto-snack brand inspired by international cuisine flavours, and understood how to create and sell a healthy food alternative. Meanwhile, Thawani was working at the time as the product lead for Motif Foodworks, a food technology company, where she had learned about the power of ketones and how to create them through the process of precision fermentation.
As Back succinctly told Inside Retail, “Everything I’ve done has led up to this moment.”
Key’s long-term mission of wellness
Although Thawani and Back’s ultimate goal is for Key to be available across the country, they plan on rolling out the brand at a steady and manageable pace, using their seed funding to focus on marketing, inventory and strategic retail distribution.
Key currently has three stock-keeping units, including the Pineapple Passionfruit, Grapefruit Peach and Ginder Lime flavours, priced at US$3.75 individually or US$45 for a 12-pack.
The co-founders hope to eventually reduce the prices of the products so they are more accessible for consumers seeking out healthy beverage options.
Rather than creating products for a niche market, such as for high-performing athletes, Thawani and Back aim to build a brand that allows everyone to live healthier, more energetic lives.
While Thawani explained that energy drinks traditionally had a “ludicrous” amount of sugar which gave the consumer an instant spike, Key can reproduce ketones through precision fermentation to provide a source of energy naturally.
“We are filling out this white space right now in that there is no other energy drink that is sugar-free and low caffeine and can unlock a new source of energy that’s always been within you, waiting for you,” she enthused.
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