arepa drink img3
Customer story

Ārepa: Drinking to good health

This article was published on Sep 26, 2019, 2:58 PM

Reading time: 3 minutes

In the first of our ‘Food Frontier’ video series, we talk to Ārepa CEO and founder Angus Brown about the company’s range of bio-active drinks and consumables and the inspiration behind it.

What's in this article

    At a glance

    • With a goal to develop a 100 per cent natural, caffeine-free drink that could disrupt the energy drink market and support mental clarity, Ārepa was born.
    • Callaghan Innovation’s support included helping to co-fund research from a world-renowned neuroscientist, who helped pinpoint key bio-active ingredients from New Zealand.
    • Ārepa now has two patents, is stocked in over 50 supermarkets and 200 cafes, plus the likes of Google co-founder Larry Page having purchased the drink.

    Drinking to good health

    [Angus Brown]

    After losing some loved ones to cognitive related illnesses and seeing friends and

    family struggle with anxiety and nervousness and moments of pressure,

    I thought wouldn't it be cool if we could produce a brain drink or a smart drink

    that could help with moments like that.

    Caffeine and sugar is associated with peak performance and so we wanted to

    disrupt the energy drink market by providing something that was natural,

    caffeine free and could help with cognitive function.

    Ārepa is New Zealand's first smart drink, it's scientifically designed to help support

    mental clarity during moments of pressure and stress.

    Our success so far has been that we are now in over 50 supermarkets nationwide and

    about 200 cafés, we are starting to export, we have just had our first patent

    approved and we are working towards our second patent.

    It was really important for us that at least one of the ingredients was from

    New Zealand, working with a world renowned neuroscientist gave us two.

    One is the New Zealand pine bark extract, and the other is a New Zealand blackcurrant extract.

    The future of Ārepa is to be exporting around the world to represent New Zealand on the

    world stage and to ideally, hopefully, become the world's most iconic brain health brand.

    Advice for other founders would be to never give up, trust your gut, politely hustle, do your

    homework and make sure that your products is fit for the market and future-proofed.

    Five years of R&D has gone into the patented formula that sits behind Ārepa’s plant-based drinks and powders, according to Ārepa CEO and founder Angus Brown.

    His goal at the outset was to develop a 100% natural, caffeine-free drink that could disrupt the energy drink market and support mental clarity.

    “Caffeine and sugar are associated with peak performance. We wanted to disrupt the energy drink market by providing something that was natural, caffeine-free and could help with cognitive function.”

    To compete in the nutraceutical space, Brown says science-backed products are key, along with a focus on high quality ingredients with a strong provenance.

    It was really important for us that at least one of the ingredients was from New Zealand.

    Early support from Callaghan Innovation was used to co-fund research from a world-renowned neuroscientist, specialising in natural products affecting the brain, who helped pinpoint key bio-active ingredients from New Zealand, including Enzogenol, a patented pine bark extract, and a blackcurrant extract.

    Other support from Callaghan Innovation has included student grants focused on building R&D capacity.

    Asked to summarise some of Ārepa’s major milestones and recent highlights, Brown says it is the first smart drink to undergo clinical studies at the University of Auckland in both the Psychology and Sports Nutrition departments and he expects results from these studies will be published in the future.

    “We also hold two patents now for our formula improving mental clarity, we’re supplying our products to the All Blacks for this Rugby World Cup, we’re part of the 2019 cohort for the Sprout Agritech Accelerator, we won the Callaghan Innovation Award for Partnership and Collaboration at Fieldays and we’re undergoing a capital raise ahead of expanding offshore.”

    The list of people who have purchased Ārepa is another highlight for Brown, who says New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern and Google co-founder Larry Page have both bought the products.

    Ārepa CEO and founder Angus Brown

    Ārepa CEO and founder Angus Brown

    Brown, who is the former business development manager for the open-access facility FoodBowl, has a bold ambition for the Ārepa products.

    “We want to become the world’s most iconic brain-health and performance brand.”

    Related Products

    R&D Career Grants
    Read more
    R&D Experience Grants
    Read more
    New Zealand Food Innovation Network
    Read more

    You might also be interested in ...

    Customer story
    04 Oct 2024 Fabrum: making green hydrogen a desirable choice
    Read more
    Media release
    03 Oct 2024 A decade of deep tech just the beginning for emerging innovators
    Read more
    Customer story
    03 Oct 2024 Brandon Capital: Giving life science startups a place to thrive
    Read more
    Popular Topics