Hyro is building the premium hydration platform for everyday performance.
Subscription-native, DTC-first, creator-validated. Australia leading, US next. A$3m raise priced off current recurring revenue, not reach-case projections.
A$7.4m
annualized recurring revenue base
8,313
active subscriptions
A$4.1m
Shopify AU revenue, TTM ex-GST
A$22.3m
implied pre-money at 3.0x NTM
Why now · Moat
The first DTC hydration brand running its back office on an agent team.
Hyro operates with the cost structure of a A$3m brand and the execution capacity of a A$30m one. A team of five specialized AI agents runs supply chain, growth, finance, chief-of-staff, and customer experience on an always-on cadence.
"This is the execution advantage you cannot hire into a $10m brand fast enough. It is already running."
— Hyro operating note, Apr 2026
Category tailwinds
Hydration is shifting from niche sports utility to daily wellness habit.
Global research firms and US retail data both confirm the same thing: premium, powdered, subscription-friendly hydration is the fastest-growing corner of a multi-billion-dollar category.
US$38.4b
global sports drink market, 2023 (Grand View Research)
US$69.2b
projected market size by 2030, 8.9% CAGR
US$82.1b
electrolyte drinks forecast by 2034 (Fortune Business Insights)
US$1.5b
US powdered mix category after 20% growth in 2024 (Circana, via CNN)
What the winners share
Premium positioning, not mass sugar water
Format innovation and flavour that drive repeat habit
DTC subscription economics before retail expansion
Creator and community leverage, not brute-force shelf space
Why Hyro fits the window
Australia still lacks a clear premium hydration category leader
The US playbook is proven, local whitespace still real
AI-enabled operating leverage vs competitors adding payroll
Subscription-native base makes the revenue more valuable per $
Product + brand
Sugar-free hydration, built for repeat daily use.
Hyro sits where taste, routine, and performance overlap. That matters because the winning hydration brands are habit brands, not occasion brands.
What consumers are buying
Premium electrolyte powder with clean-label ingredients
Zero sugar, no artificial colour, flavour-led range
Stick-pack format built for daily replenishment
Credible wellness positioning with mainstream appeal
Hero SKU cues
Premium packaging, high flavour readability, portable stick format, strong shelf and social identity.
Core flavour range
Traction
This business already looks like a scaled consumer system.
Numbers are pulled directly from live systems, not reconstructed from memory. Shopify is the cleanest topline source for this deck; Xero is used for margin and profitability evidence.
A$4.13m
Shopify AU revenue, TTM ex-GST (61,436 orders)
A$74
AU AOV inc-GST, TTM
A$2.36m
Xero gross profit, Apr 25 – Mar 26
8,313
active Skio subscriptions, Apr 20 snapshot
A$618k
current recurring revenue / month (incl. delivery)
97,599
GA4 sessions, Mar 2026
Note on the finance layer
Hyro has run deliberately below the net profit line during the last ~12 months to fuel growth. Gross margin strength means the unit economics support this stance, and the raise is designed to accelerate the same curve — not change it. A2X + Xero topline mappings are being cleaned as part of Plutus's current work; investors should anchor topline off Shopify + Skio.
Subscription engine
The subscription base alone can underwrite the round.
Instead of pricing off a stretched forecast, we anchor the raise off the annualized run-rate of the active subscription base today. Every other revenue line (AU one-time, wholesale, US) becomes upside, not price.
8,313
active subscriptions
A$607k
product MRR, ex-GST
A$10.8k
delivery MRR
A$618k
total MRR
How we use it for valuation
Current MRR × 12 = A$7.42m annualized recurring base
3.0x on that = A$22.26m implied pre-money
A$3m raise ≈ 11.9% dilution, A$25.26m post-money
No credit taken for AU one-time, wholesale, or US growth
Why this matters
It is a current run-rate price, not a reach-case multiple
It leaves investors clean upside from non-subscription lines
It signals discipline while still giving Hyro enough fuel
Growth engine
Scaling paid without becoming a purely paid business.
Northbeam's reliable attribution window (Feb–Mar 2026) shows improving paid ROAS, while GA4 shows traffic scale rising as paid layers onto an already-organic-heavy base.
1.46x
Feb 26 paid ROAS, Northbeam
1.62x
Mar 26 paid ROAS, Northbeam (improving)
A$595k
Feb 26 total attributed revenue
3.44x
Feb 26 blended ROAS (on paid spend)
New subscriber acquisitions per month (Skio)
Apr 25 → Mar 26. Peak acquisition month: Feb 26 with 3,373 new subs. Implied CAC improved from A$217 (Apr 25) to A$51 (Feb 26).
Unit economics
Strong gross margin gives Hyro room to invest into growth.
This is not a low-margin beverage story. Margin quality is why the subscription base is valuable and why a faster US scale-up is plausible.
87.3%
GP1, operating-benchmark gross margin
70.0%
GP2, after fulfilment
A$2.36m
Xero gross profit, FY26
-A$553k
net loss while investing for scale
The read on profitability
High gross margin means Hyro is choosing to spend down to net, not being forced there
Paid ROAS + subscription retention combine into a compounding engine once AU unit economics stabilise post-scaling
This round accelerates the curve without changing the core margin profile
Operating system
Real operational depth under the hood, not just vibes and creators.
Hyro already runs against material supply chain and fulfilment complexity. That is often where fast-growth consumer brands break; it is being engineered carefully here.
50
Katana product records
50
recipes / BOM records
49
material records
eStore
production 3PL integration live
What Atlas manages
Raw materials, purchasing, copacker coordination
Warehouse inventory truth and transfer logic
Replenishment risk visibility across SKUs
Faster response loops when growth outruns planning
Why investors should care
Most consumer brands break when ops, finance, and growth stop talking
Agent team + IMS + Katana + eStore form a real operating spine
Lowers execution risk on the way up, and unlocks US faster
Playbook validation
Premium hydration and wellness brands have already proven how fast this can scale.
Internal deep-research playbooks on IM8 (Danny Yeung) and Gruns (Chad Janis) show the ingredients of a category leader are already visible — and Hyro brings tighter operating leverage to the same pattern.
IM8 · Danny Yeung
Zero to ~US$100m ARR in 11 months on a premium single-SKU offer with 50+ landing pages and aggressive paid media. Proof that a differentiated format + serial operator = very fast ramp.
Gruns · Chad Janis
Launched Aug 2023, scaled to US$300m+ revenue in ~24 months, acquired by Unilever for US$1.2b in April 2026. Format innovation + nano/micro-creator army + DTC → omnipresence playbook.
How Hyro applies the same pattern
Premium flavour-led format, already subscription-native
Creator-investor alignment, not paid endorsement
AI operating stack that compresses the cost of scaling ops
Land-and-expand: dominate AU first, then export the playbook to the US
US expansion
Australia proved the model. The US is the scale unlock.
The US store is live, the US entity is incorporated, and the raise is about accelerating a playbook that is already in motion.
Delaware
Hyro US Inc. incorporated via Stripe Atlas
US$3.1k
US revenue to date, 78 orders (pre-launch)
Live
Shopify Plus storefront on drinkhyro.co
Robo3PL
US 3PL infrastructure lined up
Why the US is compelling
The category is bigger, more mature, and conditioned to premium powders
Creator-led wellness brands scale fast in this market
Hyro arrives with a validated product, not a blank page
What the round unlocks in the US
Inventory + launch working capital
Creator seeding and paid media acceleration
Local ops setup, Steve + Taylor relocating mid-2026
Space to move while the AU engine keeps compounding
Raise structure
A disciplined A$3m raise, priced off current recurring revenue.
A$3.0m
raise amount
3.0x
NTM revenue multiple
A$22.3m
implied pre-money
11.9%
new-money dilution
Math
Current MRR (product + delivery): A$618k / month
Annualized subscription base: A$7.42m
3.0x on A$7.42m = A$22.26m pre-money
A$3m raise → A$25.26m post-money
Why this price is defensible
Anchored on today's recurring base, not reach-case assumptions
Leaves investor upside from AU one-time + wholesale + US growth
Signals financial discipline and gives Hyro enough fuel to move
Use of funds
Deploy the capital into the next 18 months of compounding.
40%
US inventory + launch
Working capital, local inventory, launch readiness.
30%
Growth media + creators
AU scale + first real US growth loops.
15%
Ops + systems
Supply chain, analytics, AI workflow hardening.
15%
Team + buffer
Select hires and execution buffer during scale.
18-month milestones
Defend and expand the AU subscription base (target: 15k+ active subs)
Establish a real US launch footprint on drinkhyro.co
Maintain GP1 >= 85% while scaling paid and creator programs
Deepen the AI operating moat as a defensible capability
The ask
Hyro already has the product, the recurring base, and the operating edge.
A$3m at 3.0x NTM revenue. Priced off today's run-rate, with everything else as upside. This round turns an Australian DTC winner into the next global hydration brand, powered by an AI operating team that compounds every day it runs.
Steve Chapman · CEO & Co-Foundersteve@drinkhyro.comConfidential · April 2026
