Welcome to the Mycopreneur Newsletter. Today we’re inviting you to join us for a deep dive session into the dynamics of building a functional mushroom beverage CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) brand with Allen Davies of MycoPop. The invitation to today’s Mycopreneur Incubator hosted by Allen is at the bottom of this newsletter.
The functional mushroom drink market is popping. Recent data indicates that this segment of the broader functional mushroom industry is valued at over $3 billion as of this year, with forecasts projecting considerable growth on the horizon.
The first mushroom drink was probably the Chaga mushroom coffee drank by Finnish troops during World War ll. The troops stretched their meager coffee rations and in many cases replaced it altogether with the well-known Chaga (Inonotus Obliquus) mushroom that had long been used in traditional medicine across the region. 70 years later, Finnish brand Four Sigmatic launched the functional mushroom coffee category in United States grocery stores against all odds. Founder Tero Isokauppila has shared the story of how distributors and retail buyers laughed him out of the room for thinking that functional mushroom beverages would ever catch on as a mainstream product in the United States. Fast forward to today and Four Sigmatic surged past $200 million in lifetime sales as of 2023.
North Korea launched a mushroom-based sports drink in 2014, and I’ve seen Wood Ear (Auricularia) juice in a can at an Asian market in San Francisco before.
Brez is another functional mushroom beverage that has taken the world by storm since bursting out of the gate in Aril of 2023. They’ve crossed the $60 million revenue mark in just over 2 years and have their Lion’s Mane mushroom infused social tonics available nationwide in Sprouts and several other major chains. I’m still blown away by what they’ve managed to accomplish since I introduced their Founder & CEO to their Head of Product in Miami back in January of 2023, unwittingly helping seed the formation of the company and being publicly credited for the contribution by the Founding team on multiple occasions afterwards.
You already know I’m partial to Mycroboost mushroom coffee, which I carry around the world with me on my travels.
Today, every major grocery chain in the United States carries a rapidly expanding portfolio of functional mushroom beverages in addition to numerous other categories.
But take it from someone who has launched 2 different functional mushroom CPG brands (no beverages yet though I’ve been pitched on it…) and learned some expensive, time-consuming lessons in the process…it’s hard! There are so many moving parts - and so much obscure niche knowledge required to do it successfully. When I was launching Myco Mojo Lion’s Mane Tincture, I didn’t know the first thing about designing a CPG label with the correct dimensions and all necessary product information, or setting up fulfillment for shipping orders, or integrating a payment processor onto my website, and basically every other angle required to get a product into the world. And getting into storefronts…that’s another level entirely.
I wish I would have had someone on hand to talk to about the dynamics of the functional mushroom CPG space.
Today’s Mycopreneur Incubator will be hosted by Allen Davies, founder of MycoPop mushroom energy drink.
Allen will be sharing intel from his journey bringing MycoPop mushroom energy drink into the world - from the initial ideation stages with famed author and educator William Padilla-Brown on through the design and formulation of the beverage up to today where MycoPop is available across the U.S. and in a growing number of retail outlets.
I’ll be on a flight to Istanbul, Turkey 🇹🇷 during the Incubator today so Allen is holding it down as the host for this week. Show him some love and let’s fill up the zoom room. Details below:
Mycopreneur Incubator Today
Today’s Mycopreneur Incubator will focus on the dynamics of building a functional mushroom beverage CPG brand.
Topic: Mycopreneur Incubator
Time: Today, Oct 9, 2025 3:00 PM ET / 12 PM PT
Meeting ID: 850 2366 4102
Passcode: 219259
Thanks for reading today’s Mycopreneur Newsletter and peace,
DW