)
Melbourne-based scale-up Bae Juice is close to cracking $10 million in accumulated sales since inception from its key hangover drink product, but the startup now plans to energise revenue over the next year with the launch of Australia’s first juice-based caffeine product.
Bae Juice Energy, an all-natural energy drink made with Korean pear juice and green tea extract, is expected to help the company double revenue in FY26 to $5 million.
Founded in 2019 by Tim O’Sullivan, Liam Gostencnik and Sumin Do, Bae Juice has made its mark in the beverage market with its hangover prevention juice which is made entirely from Korean pear juice.
While the company says there is some synergy between Bae Juice and Bae Juice Energy, the new product is aimed at opening up an entirely new market for the company that is estimated to be worth $1.6 billion a year.
“It’s about getting people to consume the product daily and for general lifestyle rather than a hangover focus,” O’Sullivan tells Business News Australia.
“The current product is growing ridiculously year on year, but we want to diversify our brand and bring more products to the market and a new wave of customers to Bae Juice.”
The company, which is backed by billionaire technology and gaming entrepreneur Laurence Escalante, will be launching the product online and through independent retailers next week, but Bae Juice is also close to securing a distribution deal with a major retailer.
The launch of Bae Juice Energy, and the emerging tariff war, has also triggered a new domestic growth strategy for the company which last year had ambitions to expand into the US market.
“We’ve put the US on hold to focus on Australia with the new product,” says O’Sullivan.
“We could either go harder in Australia and land new retailers with these new products or have to raise millions of dollars to facilitate US growth.”
The new tariffs introduced by the US have also weighed on the company’s push into North America as Bae Juice sources its raw products from South Korea while visual merchandising comes out of China.
“The currency and tariffs would have killed us,” says O’Sullivan.
However, Bae Juice has already spent some time setting up the structure to enter the US and while the company has ceased sales into the market, O’Sullivan says it remains on the wish list for future growth.
Bae Juice currently has a distribution network of about 4,000 stores which the company aims to increase to 5,000, including over 1,000 independent retailers, by the end of 2025.
A trial with Coles Express and Ampol outlets last year delivered strong numbers which O’Sullivan says could lead to Bae Juice being “full ranged” towards the end of this year.
Bae Juice has achieved $2.1 million in revenue this financial year to date, with the company expecting to close out FY25 at $2.5 million. Sales are currently growing at 18 per cent annually and this is expected to accelerate once new products are introduced.
“I think Bae Juice Energy is the first ever caffeinated juice on the market and we’d like to think we are innovating the beverage sector,” says O'Sullivan.
“There’s so much room for growth and innovation here that we are looking at a third product already.”
Bae Juice Energy is made from Korean pear juice, a hydrating, antioxidant-rich natural product known for its hangover-preventing properties, as well as green tea extract, a natural caffeine source for steady, long-lasting energy, and vitamin C which provides immunity support to keep energy levels high.
"We saw a gap in the market for a clean, easy-drinking caffeine boost that actually fits into people’s daily routines - without the jitters or the 20 teaspoons of sugar," says O’Sullivan.
Co-founder Gostencnik says while the original juice helps people feel better the next day after drinking, the new product is helping to “energise them with natural ingredients”.
“We want to continue offering functional beverages with natural ingredients so we are so excited to enter the energy space and really shake up this billion-dollar industry,” he says.
)
