This Energy Drink Brand Just Added Kim Kardashian as Co‑Founder—and Rebuilt Its Entire Strategy

The Skims founder went from customer to co-founder in record time.

BY ANNABEL BURBA, EDITORIAL ASSISTANT @ANNIEBURBA

Kim Kardashian. Photos: Courtesy Update

Kim Kardashian just added yet another co-founder role to her resume. This time, she’s bringing her business and marketing savvy to Update, an energy drink brand that’s already been in business for four years.

Update was founded in 2022 by former investment banker Daniel Solomons and the Hess family, which sold its gas and oil company, Hess Corp., to Chevron for $53 billion in 2025.

The New York City-based brand—which uses paraxanthine, a compound humans produce after ingesting caffeine, to provide what it calls “smooth and controlled energy” without jitters—is relaunching as it adds Kardashian to its leadership team. 

As part of the relaunch, Update is making a major retail debut. Starting March 1, its products will be available for purchase in more than 4,000 Walmart stores. The energy drinks cost $2.99 per can online and come in five flavors: berry, grape, mandarin, peach, and pineapple.

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Kardashian discovered Update in 2023, according to a press release provided to Inc. She integrated its energy drinks into her daily routine, per the release, with her team regularly placing “large and consistent orders” with the brand. Before long, Kardashian began to think of ways Update could improve its product and marketing strategy.

“Kim began offering thoughtful, unsolicited feedback on flavor, formulation, packaging, and how the brand could better serve modern, high-performing consumers,” the press release says. Those conversations eventually led to a collaboration between Kardashian and Update, which in turn led to a partnership.

By mid-2025, however, the brand says it became clear that “she wasn’t just a customer or advisor” anymore. Over the past year, Kardashian has been “hands-on across product formulation, brand positioning, creative direction, and long-term vision.”

With its new packaging and its choice to bring Kardashian on as a co-founder, Update seems to be courting young female consumers. In doing so, it joins a frenzy of energy drink brands currently vying for that key demographic. Podcast host and entrepreneur Alex Cooper launched her own better-for-you energy drink, Unwell Energy, aimed at women in late December. Bloom Nutrition, Alani Nu, and Gorgie have also entered the category in recent years with much success. In March, Monster is launching a new line of drinks called FLRT.

Solomons, who serves as CEO of Update, said in a statement that Kardashian’s “perspective on purposeful energy and her instinct for what resonates culturally” have sharpened the brand’s long-term vision.

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