The King Of Pop

ROHAN OZA made millions for celebrities including Jennifer Aniston and 50 Cent by bringing them into beverage deals. But as the driving force behind the $1.9 billion sale of the prebiotic soda Poppi to Pepsi, the Zambian immigrant is finally living his American Dream.

- Chloe Sorvino

Sitting in his Manhattan office, where hot pink, purple and orange cans of his soda brand Poppi are tacked to the wall like artwork, Rohan Oza explains how, for the past 20 years, he's been searching for the perfect soft drink.

“Americans are looking for the brands of tomorrow,” says the 53-year-old Oza, cofounder of Los Angeles-based private equity firm Cavu Consumer Partners, who was the chairman of prebiotic soda Poppi and its single largest individual shareholder when Pepsi acquired it in May for $1.9 billion. “Thirty years from now, Poppi is going to be the soda for my kids.”

The Poppi deal is Oza’s biggest exit yet, but it’s far from his first. He played a key role in some of the largest beverage acquisitions of the past two decades, including Vitaminwater and Smartwater ($4.1 billion in 2007) as well as Bai, an antioxidant-infused water that sold for $1.7 billion in 2016. Oza’s role in those deals was a cross between hitmaker and matchmaker, having brought in 50 Cent (Vitaminwater), Jennifer Aniston (Smartwater) and Justin Timberlake (Bai) through equity deals that saw the celebrities driving sales.

For Oza, the path to Poppi came through one of his frequent appearances on ABC’s Shark Tank. On a 2018 episode, Oza took a 25% stake in the Austin, Texas-based beverage brand founded by husband-and-wife entrepreneurs Stephen and Allison Ellsworth for $400,000. (The Ellsworths owned an estimated 12% of Poppi at the time of the Pepsi sale, worth about $150 million post-tax.)

Then Oza changed everything. He rebranded Mother Beverage, as the Ellsworths had named it, as Poppi. The liquid went from an apple cider vinegar drink to a prebiotic soda, and the packaging changed from glass to cans. The branding morphed from farmer's-market artisanal to bright, Millennial-friendly colors.

Leading up to Pepsi's acquisition at a 3.3-times-revenue multiple,