With 200 leading brands using Thirstie’s e-commerce solution and dozens of alcohol brands looking to join the platform on a weekly basis, Thirstie prepares to scale the company with strategic new hires and advisors, bringing the best e-commerce minds together to establish best practices for the alcohol industry
Thirstie, the leading e-commerce and business intelligence provider for beverage alcohol brands, today announced strong business momentum resulting in new team additions and top advisors from the e-commerce space, including the former CEO of Magento and former President of SAP Hybris.
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As accelerated adoption of Thirstie’s e-commerce platform for retailers and alcohol brands continues, the company has generated substantial growth. In early 2020, there were less than a dozen brands using Thirstie; today there are 200 alcohol brand partners using the platform with more being added every day. Platform revenue quadrupled from 2019 to 2020, and Thirstie anticipates a 2X YoY growth in brand sign up rate in Q3 2021 as the company continues to expand despite post-pandemic consumer behavior, adding both retailer and brand partners on to the platform.
“In the past year, we’ve had tremendous momentum; this growth and enthusiasm is a testament to the need for a highly-compliant ecommerce-driven data solution for alcohol brands,” stated Devaraj Southworth, Thirstie’s CEO & Co-Founder. “Our goal is to help grow and scale these companies while changing the course of the alcohol industry. Making these strategic investments in our team and advisory board will allow us to continue to be great partners for both brands and retailers while shaping the future of the Beverage Alcohol space.”
Joining a diverse group of advisors and investors, Thirstie has added two e-commerce all-stars as Strategic Advisors; Mark Lavelle, the former CEO of Magento and SVP of Commerce at Adobe and Carsten Thoma, former President of SAP Hybris.
Mark Lavelle, Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder at Deep Lake Capital, joins Thirstie as a Strategic Advisor following his investment in the business. As the former CEO of Magento and SVP of Commerce at Adobe following Adobe’s 2018 acquisition of Magento for $1.68 billion, Lavelle brings decades of e-commerce experience to the Thirstie team. “I am thrilled to serve as both an investor as well as advisor to Thirstie and look forward to providing strategic insights from my years of experience in this challenging space,” stated Lavelle. “Thirstie is defining what B2B E-Commerce means within a highly regulated industry and I am confident they will continue to not only be innovators, but industry leaders.”
Following his investment, Thirstie has also added Carsten Thoma to its Advisory board. Thoma is the former Co-Founder and Managing Director of Hybris and President of SAP Hybris, following SAP’s acquisition of the company in 2006 for $1.1B. “There are many parallels between Thirstie’s approach to e-commerce and how I have approached the space with my former company,” stated Thoma. “E-Commerce and digital storefronts have the ability to change the trajectory for CPG brands. However, it’s critical for businesses to find the right e-commerce partner. Devaraj and Max have figured out how to make this happen, through development of a highly compliant vertically integrated e-commerce solution built specifically for Beverage Alcohol.”
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In addition to strategic advisors, Thirstie announced Jason Dacaret as VP of People. In this position, Dacaret will guide and manage all human capital strategy, company culture, in-house processes for hiring talent, and employee onboarding processes. Prior to joining Thirstie, Dacaret was the Chief Human Resources Officer and Investment Committee Member at REAPRA, a venture builder and venture capital/investment management company in Southeast Asia. Prior to REAPRA, Dacaret spearheaded business development for North America for RGF International Recruitment, part of Recruit Group, the 4th largest HR services provider worldwide.
Thirstie has also onboarded John Briar as VP and General Manager. In this role, Briar will manage the day-to-day execution of the company’s vision, as well as provide high-level guidance to departments that include Operations, Accounting, Customer Support, Retail and Brand Sales, Retail and Brand Account Management, and Partnerships. Prior to joining Thirstie, Briar served as Managing Director, Marketing Operations at Annalect, which he joined in 2019. Prior to that, he spent 16 years at Operative, where he held numerous roles including Chief Services Officer, and built a team from five to 300 employees over the course of his tenure.
In addition, Thirstie added Hannah Vogel as the Director of Analytics where she oversees Data Intelligence for Thirstie’s Brand Partners. Vogel has a PhD in Mathematics, and has spent her career as a data scientist, analyst, and consultant working with e-commerce and marketing data.
Other recent new hires include: Ryan Malik, Controller, Catherine Herzog, Retail Development Manager and Kelley McGann, Marketing and Communications Manager.
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