{"data":{"type":"company_profile_ai","id":47474,"entity_id":"wefunder:company:47474","attributes":{"canonical_url":"https://wefunder.com/hoop.tea","retrieval_urls":{"canonical":"https://wefunder.com/hoop.tea","json":"https://wefunder.com/hoop.tea.json","markdown":"https://wefunder.com/hoop.tea.md","ai_json":"https://wefunder.com/hoop.tea.ai.json","ai_text":"https://wefunder.com/hoop.tea.ai.txt","changelog_json":"https://wefunder.com/hoop.tea.changelog.json","schema":"https://wefunder.com/.well-known/ai-profile-schema.json"},"updated_at":"2026-06-11T05:00:12Z","generated_at":"2026-06-12T03:04:01Z","profile_visibility":{"owner_published":true,"public_search_results":true,"site_search_listed":true,"privacy_mode":"promote","invite_only":false},"company":{"id":47474,"entity_id":"wefunder:company:47474","slug":"hoop.tea","name":"Hoop Tea","tagline":"Take A Sip, Enjoy The Trip","elevator_pitch":"Hoop Tea is a spiked iced tea brand that was created at Backshore Brewing Co on the beach of Ocean City, MD in the summer of 2016. Hoop Tea products are 'better for you' alcoholic beverages for modern consumers who prefer products with 'clean labels' and thoughtful ingredients.","location":"Ocean City, MD","website":"https://hooptea.com","total_amount_raised":260913,"total_investors":131,"is_funded":true,"is_active":true},"key_claims":[{"claim_id":"claim-total-raised","text":"Total raised on Wefunder: 260913","citation":"https://wefunder.com/hoop.tea#claim-total-raised","provenance":{"source":"FrontCompanySummary#amount_raised","last_verified_at":"2026-06-11T05:00:12Z","as_of":"2026-06-12T03:04:01Z","confidence":"high"},"observed_at":"2026-06-11T05:00:12Z","expires_at":"2026-06-12T05:00:12Z"},{"claim_id":"claim-total-investors","text":"Total investors: 131","citation":"https://wefunder.com/hoop.tea#claim-total-investors","provenance":{"source":"FrontCompanySummary#number_of_investors","last_verified_at":"2026-06-11T05:00:12Z","as_of":"2026-06-12T03:04:01Z","confidence":"high"},"observed_at":"2026-06-11T05:00:12Z","expires_at":"2026-06-12T05:00:12Z"}],"verified_facts":[{"claim_id":"claim-total-raised","text":"Total raised on Wefunder: 260913","citation":"https://wefunder.com/hoop.tea#claim-total-raised","provenance":{"source":"FrontCompanySummary#amount_raised","last_verified_at":"2026-06-11T05:00:12Z","as_of":"2026-06-12T03:04:01Z","confidence":"high"},"observed_at":"2026-06-11T05:00:12Z","expires_at":"2026-06-12T05:00:12Z"},{"claim_id":"claim-total-investors","text":"Total investors: 131","citation":"https://wefunder.com/hoop.tea#claim-total-investors","provenance":{"source":"FrontCompanySummary#number_of_investors","last_verified_at":"2026-06-11T05:00:12Z","as_of":"2026-06-12T03:04:01Z","confidence":"high"},"observed_at":"2026-06-11T05:00:12Z","expires_at":"2026-06-12T05:00:12Z"}],"company_claims":{"tagline":"Take A Sip, Enjoy The Trip","elevator_pitch":"Hoop Tea is a spiked iced tea brand that was created at Backshore Brewing Co on the beach of Ocean City, MD in the summer of 2016. Hoop Tea products are 'better for you' alcoholic beverages for modern consumers who prefer products with 'clean labels' and thoughtful ingredients.","story":"Born in a tiny brewery on the beach of Ocean City MD, Hoop Tea is a brand of tea-based alcoholic beverages for modern\u0026nbsp;consumers who prefer products with ‘clean labels’, low calories, and thoughtful ingredients.\u0026nbsp;Hoop Tea was started by free spirited individuals who decided to quit their jobs and move to the beach. While simply \"creating things they wished existed\", the Hoop Tea team quickly became pioneers of the\u0026nbsp;exploding \"beyond beer\" alcohol\u0026nbsp;category.Our purposeAccording to Danny, the founder of Hoop Tea;\"I've always been careful about what goes into my body, but I grew frustrated that I couldn't find any clean-label or organic options when I joined my friends for drinks. I watched the change in grocery and convenience stores as they focused on better-for-you options when consumers began to seek alternatives to artificial, sugary, and high calorie foods. Unfortunately liquor stores and bars have shelves that look the same as they have for the past 40 years. We believe there is a better way. Using thoughtful ingredients, we've created a beverage to be enjoyed without great sacrifice to your health or compromising on flavor. We create options for people, like me, who are concerned with their wellness, but still want to enjoy a vibrant social life.\"\u0026nbsp;How it all startedI’ve been in the hospitality business my whole life. I began by parking cars, washing dishes, and eventually bootstrapped my way up to owning my own bars and restaurants. In 2013 I fulfilled my dream of opening a brewery on the beach of Ocean City MD. We brew our beer with our toes in the sand and the sun on our faces, so it’s fitting that this is where Hoop Tea was born. In Ocean City we spend our mornings surfing or practicing yoga, then re-fuel at a local fresh juice shop or organic market. After a day's work at the brewery we'll usually meet up with friends at a local beach bar to watch the sun set. I noticed that my healthy habits had to be left at the door, and I heard the same complaint from many of my friends. I couldn't help but think there was a glaring need for something different and, since I owned a brewery, I thought there was no one better suited to craft a concoction to make all my juice drinking, yoga practicing, surf riding friends have a happier happy-hour.We launched the first iteration of Hoop Tea a few years ago after making some small batches in the brewery. We immediately got bombarded with inquiries from customers as well as bars and retail stores asking where to purchase our product. The following year we decided to package our alcoholic tea in eco-friendly 3 liter pouches and distribute them to local bars. We made 4 flavors including White Mango, Watermelon Mint Green Tea, Peach Tea Lemonade, and Sweet Lemon. In no time our little brand gained a cult-like tribe of loyal followers and the demand is spreading faster than we can keep up with it. Our products are created with natural ingredients,\u0026nbsp;purified water, organic cane sugar, and a thousands of years old process of fermenting natural sugars to create alcohol.Today's consumers are increasingly turning towards emerging brands. They place importance on\u0026nbsp;authentic brand stories and distrust the advertising of large companies. This trend has helped\u0026nbsp;Hoop Tea achieve remarkable sales growth and a cult-like following in the Mid-Atlantic region.\u0026nbsp;While the \"beyond beer\" or \"flavored malt beverage\" category has dwarfed the growth of almost all alcohol categories, including\u0026nbsp;craft beer, Hoop Tea remains one of the only craft brands achieving success against the larger competitors.\u0026nbsp;Note: the above shows sales of Southbound One, Inc., who have conducted all historic sales for Hoop Tea.\u0026nbsp; Hoop Tea, Inc., the company conducting this raise, is a new entity.While\u0026nbsp;the Hoop Tea brand has shown remarkable traction with limited resources and almost no employees, we've decided it's time to 'pour fuel on the fire' by hiring a team of superstars to handle sales, marketing, production, and finance. We have the unfair advantage of being an exciting, free spirited, and authentic brand which no big competitor can recreate. Raising capital is our last hurdle to becoming an unstoppable brand.","quick_facts":["The demand for Hoop Tea is spreading faster than we can keep up with it. Every dollar invested translates to increased sales.","The Flavored Malt Beverage category is booming, surpassing craft beer. We are one of the only craft brands pioneering the category.","In a single summer, (as a division of SB1 Inc.) we achieved $1.3mm with only one full time employee and no outside investment!","Hoop Tea's organic growth and demand from our loyal tribe of fans has landed our brand in the country's top bars and chain stores.","We've assembled a leadership team of industry superstars bringing experience from established companies such as Heineken and Molson."]},"computed_metrics":{"total_amount_raised":260913,"total_investors":131,"team_size":1,"featured_investor_count":0,"faq_count":5,"recent_post_count":0},"quick_facts":[{"claim_id":"claim-fact-1","value":"The demand for Hoop Tea is spreading faster than we can keep up with it. 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Any major accounts? Best regards, Miguel Costa","answer":"Hi Miguel, it's great to hear from you. The relationships with our distributors and accounts took us a lot of time and work to establish. Fortunately, the effort we put into building their trust paid off when we ran into the supply issues last season. We have not lost a single distributor. It also helped that production challenges are quite common in this industry. We were surprised when distributors told us stories of similar complications experienced by brands of all sizes. The individual r..."},{"question":"Cool product. What were revenue for 2018? 2019? Thanks!","answer":"Hi Dillon, thanks for the compliment. You can find detailed revenue info in the attached pitch deck file. Basically in 2018 about $1.3mm of product was sold, and 2019 was approximately $500k. While we had grown in orders for 2019, we had an interruption in production which prevented us from keeping up with demand. We've moved to a new production facility to handle the growth of 2020. Thanks for reaching out!"},{"question":"This is effectively a licensing agreement with another distributor then? However it seems like you are also selling? Who is responsible for what exactly? Do you have any guarantees in place that SB1 will sell X amount of product with contingencies in place if they do not? If y...","answer":"Hey Justin, good to hear from you. SB1 is not a distributor, it has a brewery license. Here's why there is a licensing agreement in place, and this should clear up the relationship: - I own SB1, which operates restaurants and a brewery. Hoop Tea products were created and sold through that brewery. When we decided to take investors in the Hoop Tea brand, we understood that investors did not want to be involved with the brick \u0026amp; mortar establishments. Therefore, we created a new entity, Hoop..."},{"question":"Hi Justin, Why raise equity vs debt? Who would buy you to pay out shareholders/get you your hard earned windfall? What's an exit look like in this space? Thanks! Wes","answer":"Hey Wesley, thanks for the question. Yes, we could have taken on debt instead, but that would have affected our cash flow, therefore slowing growth a little. We may still use the debt option in the future. Typically a buy out / exit for a company like this would happen when a larger brand in the same industry sees us as an acquisition target. Larger brands are not very good at creating and cultivating new brands or products, but they are experts at scaling products that are proven in the mark..."},{"question":"Hey Danny, Love the product and the Promo video! I get that you want the locals to feel that they have part ownership in your brand, but what will be the true ROI for a large investor? I understand there is always risk involved. I guess the bottom line is what will an investor...","answer":"Hi Joe, glad to hear you love the product! It sounds like you're asking how and when you will see a return from your investment. You said you understand the risk, but I just want to reiterate that start-up companies have a high rate of failure. We have no intention of going out of business, but you have to keep in mind that statistic. Investors will see a return in the event of an exit for our company. This is typically when a larger brand acquires Hoop Tea and makes the brand a part of their..."}],"recent_posts":[],"provenance":{"source":"wefunder_public_company_profile","as_of":"2026-06-12T03:04:01Z","claims":{"total_amount_raised":{"source":"FrontCompanySummary#amount_raised","last_verified_at":"2026-06-11T05:00:12Z","as_of":"2026-06-12T03:04:01Z","confidence":"high"},"total_investors":{"source":"FrontCompanySummary#number_of_investors","last_verified_at":"2026-06-11T05:00:12Z","as_of":"2026-06-12T03:04:01Z","confidence":"high"},"active_raise_states":{"source":"Fundraise.visible(nil, nil)","last_verified_at":"2025-02-06T01:17:55Z","as_of":"2026-06-12T03:04:01Z","confidence":"high"},"latest_fundraise_state":{"source":"Fundraise.visible(nil, nil).order(funding_started_at)","last_verified_at":"2025-02-06T01:17:55Z","as_of":"2026-06-12T03:04:01Z","confidence":"medium"}}}}}}