Cure, a purposeful hydration model, is coming into a brand new section of its progress that features practically quadrupling its retail presence from 2021, rounding out its management staff and shutting on $5.6 million in Sequence A funding.

It’s been a scorching minute since TechCrunch checked in on the model — almost three years, actually — which is carving out a singular area of interest within the $10 billion purposeful drink combine market that founder and CEO Lauren Picasso advised TechCrunch has “exploded” previously 12 months.

Picasso attributes a lot of that to client conduct towards extra environmentally-friendly merchandise, together with the convenience of utilizing powder versus ready-to-drink liquids, which weigh extra to ship and have extra packaging.

Hydration just isn’t a brand new idea (who can overlook The Right Stuff?), however shoppers on the lookout for more healthy choices have, in flip, created a extra aggressive panorama in recent times.

Picasso touts Remedy because the “solely female-founded electrolyte model” and considers its largest competitor to be Liquid I.V., which was acquired by Unilever in 2020. She additionally stated “legacy gamers are doing very well as a lot of new gamers have entered the market” previously few years. A few of these different purposeful beverage startups are additionally venture-backed. For instance, Hydrant, additionally in hydration, Olipop and Poppi within the soda area and The Ryl Company in tea.

To distinguish itself extra from the plethora of hydration choices, Remedy went by a rebrand in 2022 to focus extra on its substances. For instance, it makes use of coconut water powder and pink Himalayan salt, whereas different drink combine corporations use cane sugar, dextrose, high-fructose corn syrup and artificial and synthetic substances, Picasso stated.

“We wished to rebrand and actually higher talk our clear, plant-based substances,” Picasso added. “We really feel that we’re simply as efficient as merchandise like Liquid I.V., however we’re utilizing significantly better substances. There’s a extremely clear level of differentiation, and due to that, we find yourself attracting very completely different shoppers than any of our opponents. Our product tends to skew feminine, which is fairly distinctive, and tends to be a really lively well being acutely aware client.”

Since launching in 2019, Remedy has grown, on common, 230% annually in income, and can develop its retail footprint from 4,000 shops in 2021 to fifteen,000 in 2023, Picasso stated.

The corporate’s merchandise are already in CVS and Walgreens, however now may also be in retailers, together with Sprouts, Albertsons, Kroger, Cease & Store, Wegmans and HEB. General, there are 9 flavors, 4 of them new: lime and orange launched in 2022 and lemonade and strawberry kiwi this 12 months.

Whereas Remedy is accelerating its retail presence, it continues to have about 60% penetration in e-commerce, and within the first quarter of 2023 outpaced its prior 12 months’s quarter progress by 121%, and all with simply 9 full-time workers, Picasso stated.

Having already secured $2.6 million in seed funding in 2020, Remedy’s $5.6 million Sequence A funding, which closed in March, provides the corporate $8.2 million in whole venture-backed capital. With the brand new capital, the corporate, Picasso stated Remedy’s valuation is now over 2x increased than the earlier spherical.

The Sequence A was deliberate, with Picasso noting that “that is going to be our final spherical. From right here on out, we might be working towards profitability, aiming to be worthwhile by the start of 2024.”

Lerer Hippeau, which led Remedy’s seed spherical, is again to steer the brand new funding and was joined by a bunch of recent and current traders, together with Valedor Companions, Easy Meals Ventures, Nice Oaks Enterprise Capital, Joyance Companions, Silas Capital and Kim Clijsters.

Remedy intends to speculate the brand new capital in quicker retail enlargement, rising its management staff, buying new clients and creating new merchandise, together with a bulk jar choice that subscriber clients have been requesting.

With regard to its management staff, the corporate just lately employed Laura Kendrick, who was beforehand with SmartyPants, and Stacey Gillespie, former vice chairman of innovation at Gaia Herbs, to assist scale distribution and total income.

Remedy has been profitable with influencer advertising and marketing, amassing 700 influencers as a part of its ambassador program, however Picasso introduced Kendrick on “to actually assist the model scale,” whereas Gillespie will lead the development of the corporate’s product growth and enlargement into different purposeful classes, for instance vitality and well being.

“We have been on the lookout for somebody to scale all these completely different advertising and marketing channels and actually drive the model technique going ahead,” Picasso stated. “In the meantime, Stacey is an business veteran who introduced 1,500 new merchandise to market over the course of her profession.”

To that finish, Remedy’s merchandise went on the cabinets of quite a few new retailers within the final 4 months whereas additionally doubling its footprint in CVS. It’s now engaged on some new merchandise that might be launched within the subsequent 12 months or so, Picasso stated.

“Now we have numerous retail enlargement deliberate, so the subsequent two years might be about executing in these doorways and developing with a advertising and marketing playbook to achieve success in shops,” she added.

Editor’s be aware: Remedy, which disclosed a $22 million valuation through the interview, stated that the present valuation is now increased, however disclosed to remark additional.