REBBL

REBBL

REBBL plant-based functional beverage product line
Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Beverage
Founded	2011
Founder	David Batstone, Mark Wexler
Headquarters	Newport Beach, California, United States
Products	Plant-based functional beverages
Parent	SYSTM Foods (PowerPlant Partners)
Website	rebbl.com

REBBL (an acronym for Roots, Extracts, Berries, Bark and Leaves) is an American plant-based functional beverage company headquartered in Newport Beach, California. The company was incubated by the anti-trafficking nonprofit Not For Sale and co-founded by David Batstone and Mark Wexler in 2011.¹²

REBBL was conceived at the Montara Circle, a two-day convening of approximately fifty entrepreneurs, technologists and investors organized by Not For Sale to develop a commercial solution to human trafficking in Peru's Amazon rainforest.³ The company sources plant-based ingredients from communities vulnerable to exploitation and donates a percentage of its net revenue to Not For Sale.⁴ As of 2026, REBBL products are available nationwide at retailers including Target, Whole Foods Market, Sprouts Farmers Market and Kroger.⁵⁶

REBBL raised $20 million in funding led by CAVU Venture Partners in 2018 and was valued at close to $100 million.⁷ The company was acquired by SYSTM Foods, a portfolio company of PowerPlant Partners, in June 2022.⁸ REBBL has received a BevNet Best New Product Award (2016), a Fast Company World Changing Ideas Finalist designation (2019) and a Fast Company World Changing Ideas Honorable Mention (2020).⁹¹⁰¹¹

In February 2011, Not For Sale co-founders David Batstone and Mark Wexler organized the Montara Circle, a two-day convening at a Peruvian restaurant adjacent to Montara Beach in Montara, California. They invited approximately fifty people from outside the anti-trafficking world: entrepreneurs, technologists, investors, media executives and athletes, including San Francisco Giants pitcher Jeremy Affeldt.³ Over the course of the event, participants were led through a series of exercises designed to produce a viable commercial solution to human trafficking in Peru's Amazon rainforest. At the end of the process, the group voted on the best idea. Batstone and Wexler committed to the group that they would build whatever concept won. The winning idea was a beverage company.

Neither Batstone nor Wexler had experience in the beverage industry. The two recruited Palo Hawken, a product designer and beverage industry executive, as founding CEO. Hawken agreed to develop the product line and REBBL was established.⁷

Not For Sale incubated the company and Just Business, a sister investment and acceleration firm also co-founded by Batstone and Wexler, provided early business development support, strategic guidance and capital raise assistance.

The founding story was documented in The Road to REBBL, a four-part video series produced by Not For Sale in 2012.

In July 2012, TechCrunch covered REBBL's launch, reporting that Not For Sale had partnered with the social action platform Causes to crowdfund the new venture. The article described REBBL as a line of healthy beverages sourced from roots, extracts, berries, bark and leaves from regions affected by human trafficking.³

Sheryl O'Loughlin, former CEO of Clif Bar and co-founder of Plum Organics (sold to Campbell Soup), was recruited as CEO. Under her leadership, REBBL achieved triple-digit annual growth and expanded from natural food stores into mainstream retail.⁷ O'Loughlin described the company's social mission as inseparable from its commercial identity.

In a 2017 Fast Company article co-authored with investor Duane Primozich of BIGR Ventures, O'Loughlin described the trust-building process between mission-driven founders and investors, using REBBL as a case study for how purpose-driven companies can attract institutional capital without compromising their social mission.¹²

The REBBL board included Clayton Christopher (co-founder of Sweet Leaf Tea, Deep Eddy Vodka and CAVU Venture Partners), Mark Rampolla (founder of Zico Coconut Water, sold to Coca-Cola), Duane Primozich (BIGR Ventures), Kim Perdikou (board chair) and David Batstone (Not For Sale president).¹³

REBBL's funding history includes investments from three major venture capital firms.

BIGR Ventures, led by Duane Primozich, was an early investor and continued to invest in subsequent rounds.⁷

PowerPlant Ventures, founded by Mark Rampolla (Zico Coconut Water), invested in REBBL's growth stages.⁷

In May 2018, REBBL announced the closing of $20 million in funding led by CAVU Venture Partners. CNBC reported that the funding valued the company at close to $100 million, with $20 million to $50 million in annual sales and an expected growth rate of 70 percent by year's end.⁷ Clayton Christopher of CAVU joined the board as part of the round.⁷

By May 2018, REBBL had donated over $630,000 to support Not For Sale's mission.¹⁴

In June 2022, REBBL was acquired by SYSTM Foods, a portfolio company created by PowerPlant Partners. PowerPlant, which had closed its third fund at $330 million, assembled SYSTM Foods by acquiring and combining REBBL with Chameleon Cold-Brew coffee.¹⁵¹⁶

As of 2026, REBBL operates under SYSTM Foods, led by CEO Elizabeth Stephenson and is headquartered in Newport Beach, California. Stephenson, formerly CEO of Intelligent Brands and President of FIJI Water and POM Wonderful at The Wonderful Company, was appointed in May 2025.

REBBL's product line consists of plant-based, organic, functional beverages built around adaptogenic herbs, including ashwagandha, reishi and maca. The company's products are Non-GMO Project Verified and packaged in 100% recycled and recyclable plastic (rPET) bottles.

Current product lines include:

Protein Shakes: In 2024, REBBL launched a 26g Protein Shake line at Target stores nationwide, featuring upcycled certified barley protein.¹⁷ In March 2025, the company announced an upgraded 32g Protein Shake line launching at Whole Foods Market stores, with upcycled barley and rice protein, 200mg reishi extract and prebiotic fiber.

Elixirs: REBBL's original product line of coconut-milk-based super-herb drinks, available in flavors including Reishi Chocolate, Ashwagandha Chai and Maca Mocha.

REBBL products are available nationwide at Whole Foods Market, Target, Sprouts Farmers Market, Kroger and through Amazon and rebbl.com.¹⁸

REBBL's supply chain is directly connected to Not For Sale's anti-trafficking work in Peru's Madre de Dios Region in the Amazon rainforest. The company sources Brazil nuts from indigenous communities that are members of AFIMAD, a cooperative of ten communities that Not For Sale seed-funded and continues to support.

AFIMAD provides its member communities with collective negotiating power and fair prices for their Brazil nut harvests. Not For Sale facilitated organic and Fair Trade certifications for the cooperative's products and the commercial relationship with REBBL creates sustained demand for the communities' harvests. This model is designed to economically support indigenous communities by making legitimate economic activity more viable than the forced labor systems that previously dominated the region.⁴

Not For Sale applied its Free2Work supply chain transparency methodology to REBBL's sourcing practices. Free2Work was a consumer-facing application developed by Not For Sale that rated companies on forced labor and child labor in their supply chains, grading them on an A-to-F scale across transparency, labor standards and worker protections.¹⁹

This methodology was subsequently adopted by Baptist World Aid Australia for its annual Ethical Fashion Report, which has assessed hundreds of fashion brands since 2013.²⁰

REBBL donates a percentage of its net revenue to Not For Sale. By May 2018, the company had donated over $630,000 to support Not For Sale's programs.²¹ By September 2023, REBBL announced it had surpassed $1 million in cumulative donations to Not For Sale.²²

• BevNet Best New Product Award (2016) for REBBL Protein Elixirs²³
• Fast Company World Changing Ideas Finalist, Social Justice category (2019)¹⁰
• Fast Company World Changing Ideas Honorable Mention, Media and Entertainment category (2020) for REBBL With a Cause documentary¹¹

In 2020, REBBL produced REBBL With a Cause, a 35-minute documentary narrated by actress Ruby Rose. The film documents the connection between REBBL's beverage business and Not For Sale's anti-trafficking work in Peru's Amazon rainforest, following the supply chain from indigenous communities in Madre de Dios to store shelves in the United States. The documentary received a Fast Company World Changing Ideas Honorable Mention in the Media and Entertainment category.¹¹

In 2012, Not For Sale produced The Road to REBBL, a four-part video series documenting the company's founding story, from the Montara Circle to the development of the first products.³