Does the Vitaminwater co-founder still have game?
Queens native Mike Repole, who made more than $1 billion from selling Vitaminwater and Smartwater to Coca-Cola, said Monday he sold a minority stake in his new sports drink venture, BodyArmor, to basketball star Kobe Bryant.
The LA Lakers star invested several million dollars for a better than 10 percent stake in BodyArmor and will get one of six board seats, Repole told The Post.
“This is a 100 percent equity investment,” he said. “Kobe won’t be in commercials.”
The 35-year-old NBA standout is providing marketing expertise, Repole said. “He knows the DNA of athletes, and that is invaluable.”
Younger athletes, including baseball’s Mike Trout, are endorsing the drink. The target audience is athletes 15 to 30 years old.
With BodyArmor, Repole is trying to challenge PepsiCo’s Gatorade and Coca-Cola’s Powerade in creating a third sports drink brand.
“The goal is to be the No. 1 sports drink in America,” Repole told The Post.
For the moment, though, his company generates roughly $10 million in annual revenue, giving it a long way to go before having a meaningful impact in the $10 billion category.
Repole said that after selling Vitaminwater in 2007, he swore he would never go back into beverages.
Since then, he led Pirate Brands, maker of Pirate Booty, for five years before selling it last summer for $195 million to B&G Foods.
Repole also launched healthy fast-food chain Energy Kitchen, with less success — selling some of his locations to franchisees, and closing others.
Now, he has a renewed thirst for building a mega brand on the scale of Vitaminwater. This is the first time, he said, he is challenging industry leaders as opposed to creating a new category.
Repole believes there is an opening since many “athletes today are demanding an upgraded [and healthier] sports drink.”