Functional non-alcoholic startup Sensori is banking on creators and community.
The mood-boosting beverage brand, led by Shanna Pearre (CEO) and Darean Rhodes (COO), has raised nearly $1 million in an oversubscribed pre-seed round, according to Inc. It all started with an Instagram story, which probably wouldn’t surprise anyone following the company’s digital footprint. The founders have always relied on their social platforms to bring users into the ins and outs of building the business.
Inc. reports that Pearre came across two headlines and reposted them: one about Patrick Mahomes’ investment in a beverage brand and another about Poppi’s $1.95 billion acquisition by PepsiCo. Pearre also shared her own message in the post, “Proof is in the pudding,” and said that Sensori would begin raising funding.
“The next day we woke up, and I had like 10 DMs and texts. Honestly, that was the fundraiser,” Pearre told Inc.
People had bought into the brand long before Pearre’s public ask. More than 40 creators supported the oversubscribed pre-seed round, along with community members, and professional athletes. Creator agencies Kensington Grey and DBA also supported the raise, with pro-athlete engagement supported by ECOS Group, according to a press release. The cap table includes investors such as Jenee Naylor, Kam Curl, Scot Louie, and Les Alfred.
Allyiah Gainer (Allyiahs Face) also joins as a founding partner, Pearre confirmed to AFROTECH™.
“You guys know like this is my first getting my feet wet in this space and I’m so happy to be doing this with Sensori. I am over the moon,” Gainer expressed in an Instagram video.
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The round did not include a traditional venture capital firm. Pearre told Inc. she “sees creators as more valuable than venture capital.”
She doubled down in a press release: “We’re not waiting around for institutional capital to catch up to what our community already knew. Our creators, our athletes, our customers saw this before anyone else did, and now they own a piece of what they helped build. That’s the playbook going forward.”
On the raise, Rhodes commented, per the release:
“As Shanna and I started thinking through funding, we kept coming back to the same idea: creators were already the reason people discovered and bought this brand, so why were we treating them like a marketing line item instead of a partner? That question became the model. Creators invest their own money and commit to defined activations alongside us, so it’s not just equity handed out, it’s capital, ownership, and an active role in building the business together from day one.”
Sensori’s latest raise is its most recent milestone. The company has logged month-over-month growth for 10 consecutive months, five sold-out production runs, and digital growth on TikTok Shop and Instagram, while leading the beverage category in stores, the press release notes.
Sensori’s product lineup has also expanded its Connect and Play lines to include two new flavors: Yuzu Peach and Tropical Hibiscus.
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