Casatera

What’s the fastest-growing spirit in America?

It’s not rum or vodka. It’s not whiskey or gin. It’s tequila.

This year, tequila sales are projected to outpace American whiskey for the first time. In 2021, the U.S. market for tequila was valued at nearly thirteen billion dollars. By 2031, it’s projected to surpass twenty-four billion dollars.

Casatera is targeting this market with its line of healthy, ready-to-drink mixed cocktails. These drinks contain zero sugar, zero carbs, and are seven-percent alcohol by volume (ABV).

This company is growing fast. It launched in January 2022, and has brought in $228,000 in sales to-date. Its drinks are available in eight states in more than 350 liquor stores, restaurants, bars, and hotels. Notable sale points include Total Wine stores and select Marriott Hotels.

Additionally, Casatera has key partnerships with distributors like Breakthru Beverage Group and Horizon Beverage Group. It’s also partnered with Vault49, an award-winning design agency whose clients include Smirnoff, Captain Morgan, PepsiCo, Adobe, and Apple. Notable advisors include Doug Campbell, former Brand Director with alcoholic beverage brands Ketel One and Diageo.

Casatera’s focus is on the sector for ready-to-drink (RTD) cocktails. Right now, RTDs make up four percent of global alcoholic beverage sales. But that figure is excepted to double by 2025. RTDs are expected to make up about twenty-two percent of U.S. alcohol sales by 2025, up from less than ten percent in 2020.

In this sector, there’s a lack of higher ABV, better-for-you, RTD cocktail options. Most are high in sugar, carbs, or calories. And a lot are low in ABV. While eighty percent of U.S. consumers planned to drink RTD cocktails in 2022, seventy-seven percent wanted to do so while remaining healthy.

Casatera’s drink is meant for this group of consumers. Its tequila seltzers come in flavors including Lime, Strawberry, and Grapefruit (a tropical collection is coming in 2023).

Said the Beverage Director of Horizon Beverage Group, a leading distributor in New England, “Casatera has the potential to be a category leader. The liquid is exactly what consumers are gravitating towards.”

Casatera aims to reach two-and-a-half million dollars in cumulative sales by the end of 2023 and surpass seven million dollars in sales by the end of 2024.

Team Background

Kyle King - Co-Founder

Kyle is a serial entrepreneur with a background in the alcoholic-beverage industry.

He studied Marketing at Fairfield University, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree and helped build multiple companies, one of which was acquired in 2021.

After graduation, he joined Drizly, the largest online marketplace for alcoholic-beverage delivery, which was acquired by Uber for $1.1 billion in 2021. While there, he learned about U.S. alcoholic beverage trends and distribution strategies. He left Drizly to start Casatera.

George Cultraro - Co-Founder

Prior to starting Casatera, George worked in wealth management at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Politics and a Master’s degree in Management from Fairfield University.

Co-Investors