Bae Juice gets $1 million funding boost to take its Korean pear drink to the Big Apple

Bae Juice’s mission to see its hangover prevention cure stocked in more than 1000 stores in New York this year has started to bear fruit, with the Melbourne-based business raising $1 million in its latest funding round.

Perth billionaire and technology and gaming entrepreneur Laurence Escalante and the Honan Capital family office both backed the once-bootstrapped company in the funding round, with the latter participating for the second time.

The $1 million funding round comes less than two years after Bae Juice secured its first seed investment of $500,000 at the end of 2022. 

In July last year, Bae Juice revealed to SmartCompany that it was planning to take its 100% Korean pear juice drink to New York City following an agreement with US-based distributor Gold Coast Distributors.

Bae Juice was launched in 2019 by then 23-year-old co-founders Tim O’Sullivan, Liam Gostencnik and Sumin Do.

In the last five years, Bae Juice has sold more than 2.5 million units of product, with the company confirming last year that it was on track to make $3 million in revenue, after seeing exponential growth in the 2023 financial year. It was expected to double that again in the following financial year.

O’Sullivan told SmartCompany on Tuesday the funding round represents a big step for the company and its founders. 

“We were always really confident we would raise the amount we wanted just with the recent US launch and the way the business is tracking overall,” he says. 

“To close out that number was the most incredible feeling ever. It was a long process but when it was finally done it was a special moment for us all after a five-year journey. 

“We decided the US business needed a big injection after we had done an amazing job to set up distribution and find our feet over there, so it’s time to really amplify the brand build and overall distribution with the capital.”

O’Sullivan says the co-founders are excited to build the Bae Juice brand in the US.

“We have just signed on with a great boutique PR agency in New York who will help us tell our story through media but then also help us with alot of events and product placement,” he says. 

“Something we never shut up about is in store merchandising as it helped us grow massively here in Australia so that will be a big focus for us also. 

The founders chose New York as the starting point for their US expansion after spending a few months there in the past 18 months. 

“I had that vibe that seven nights a week patrons are out having fun, music pumping from bars, Monday night sport dragging out half the cities to bars, so it was a well thought out process and we got to see first hand,” says O’Sullivan. 

“We seem to have endless opportunities pop up to grow internationally but we’re really super focused on making the US work . 

As well as landing its products in New York City, Bae Juice is also looking to begin distribution in other US states and exploring the launch of new flavours and products.

In Australia, as of July 2023, Bae Juice was already stocked in more than 3000 retail stores, including Woolworths, Dan Murphys, BWS, and independents across the country. 

However, the brand plans to lift its distribution footprint to around 5000 stores across the country, with another major Australian retailer in 2024.

“We have just begun rolling out across Coles Liquor, which has been a target of ours for a long time so that will see our store numbers grow massively,” says O’Sullivan. 

“On top of that, we see a huge play in petrol and convenience stores continuing to make our product more accessible to consumers.”

Despite its growth, O’Sullivan says the brand still really thrives on guerilla style marketing.

“So we will keep sampling the product and being innovative with how we connect with consumers,” he says. 

“We have also launched a podcast as well as hired a videographer to follow us all day and night to produce high volumes of content, so it all seems to be working.”