Investment Year: 2015

Exit: 2025

About Spindrift

Spindrift is a sparkling water company built around a simple but differentiated idea: real squeezed fruit, not “natural flavors.” At a time when most sparkling waters relied on flavor essences, Spindrift leaned into transparency and ingredient integrity. That positioning — clean label, bold taste, and real fruit content — helped it carve out a premium segment in the exploding better-for-you beverage category.

Distribution scaled from local natural retailers to national grocery chains and eventually into major accounts like Starbucks — a signal that the brand had crossed from niche to mainstream.

Why We Invested

My connection started personally before it was financial. My family was — and remains — genuinely addicted to the product. It was one of those rare consumer brands that didn’t require a pitch deck to convince me. The product spoke for itself.

I first met founder and CEO Bill Creelman standing in line at a Free Burrito Day at Boloco on Church Street in Burlington, VT, only a couple of years after Spindrift launched. He was there handing out samples. I asked him how things were going and what it was like to work at Spindrift.

He smiled and said, “I hope it’s good. I’m the CEO and founder.”

Boloco became one of Spindrift’s early restaurant customers. I watched them hustle. I watched the velocity build. And when I eventually saw Spindrift sitting inside Starbucks refrigerators, I knew something had shifted. That’s when I realized my small 2015 investment might actually have a chance of becoming meaningful.