Yanni Hufnagel, Lemon Perfect’s founder and CEO, has confirmed an SEC filing that the Atlanta, GA-based hydration company has raised another $36.8 million in its latest equity deal, just one year after closing a $31 million series A with involvement of internationally famed artist Beyoncé Knowles-Carter.
As a result of the investment, Carlton Fowler, Managing Partner of Goat Rodeo Capital Management officially joined Lemon Perfect’s board, alongside Rita Patel, CMO at Arby’s; as well as the company’s previous investors: Barak Bar-Cohen and Phillip Sarofim, the founder of Trousdale Ventures. The company’s post-money valuation is now at $150 million upon closing the latest raise, Hufnagel said.
Other institutions, including Skyview Capital, Beechwood Capital, Melitas Ventures, LivWell Ventures, Riverside Ventures, and RCV Frontline are also backers of Lemon Perfect, food and beverage database aggregator FABID confirmed.
Lemon Perfect has emerged to become a viral enhanced water brand.
Former college basketball coach, Hufnagel, launched Lemon Perfect in 2017. Within a short three-year period, the sugar-free hydrating lemon water has risen to become a viral enhanced beverage player, rivaling competitors such as Bai and Hint.
Upon closing series A in 2022, which put the company’s post-money valuation above $100 million, Lemon Perfect was targeting a triple-digit increase in retail sales to $60 million. Beverages overall also maintained its position as the most-funded CPG segment in 2022 led by mega deals with Liquid Death and Olipop, FABID showed, accounting for a whopping 47% share of the total funding.