SugarCap Recap: Ultra Raises $11 Million, Why We Doubled Down. Lucky Energy Takes on Times Square & More Portfolio News.
Ultra raises $11 million. Why Sugar Capital doubled down. Lucky Energy’s Times Square moment. Grüns ends 2025 on a high note, and more.
“I’m not fucking leaving.” — Jordan Belfort, The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
I used to reach for a pouch without thinking about it.
Same motion. Same pause. Same sense of control.
What I didn’t like was what came with it. The dependency. The quiet tax on my attention. The feeling that something small had started to run the show.
Ultra gave me an exit that didn’t feel like quitting. It felt like substituting.
I began taking Ultra this past spring as part of a broader health reset that started with GLP‑1s. I had been a daily Zyn user for years. I loved the ritual. I hated what it represented. Ultra let me keep the behavior and lose the baggage.
A few months later, I met Eric Drymer, Ultra’s founder.
That shift marked the start of Fund III. We doubled down. The position marked up 3x in 120 days.
I wrote the full story, why Ultra clicked immediately and why we moved fast, here: Why We Doubled Down on Ultra.
Sugar Capital News
⚡️ Ultra raised $11 million to expand retail and launch new nicotine-free, functional pouch products. The bet is simple. Focus without addiction. Energy without the downside. BusinessWire
🍀 Lucky Energy rang in the New Year with a Times Square billboard that read, “Life is lucky to have you.” Millions saw it. The goal was visibility, but also tone. Bold, human, and unapologetic. Instagram
🧸 Grüns closed 2025 at $300M+ in annualized revenue, less than two years after launch. The brand expanded beyond gummies and helped push the category mainstream. The growth earned Grüns a spot in Inc.’s Top 10 Stories of 2025. Modern Retail + Inc
💆♀️ Jupiter continues to win by doing something basic very well. Its Balancing and Hydrating Shampoos treat dandruff without stripping hair, turning scalp care into a habit people actually stick with. Forbes + Glamour
🕯️ Snif showed up in 2026 trend forecasts while launching Notewrks, a music-inspired fragrance line. Together, the moves point to something bigger than a single breakout brand. InsideHook
⭐️ Starface keeps proving that efficacy and personality can coexist. Hydro-Stars remain a go-to pimple patch by working well and not taking themselves too seriously. NBC Select
🫒 Brightland continues to earn its place on kitchen counters. Strong flavor, clean sourcing, and packaging that people don’t hide in a cabinet. POPSUGAR
🎂 Hello Cake is scaling fast. After being named an early 2025 wellness standout, the company is now building a vertically integrated platform across lube, supplements, and devices. Less buzz. More infrastructure. Business of Fashion + BusinessWire
📺 Chptr expanded its partnership with Heritage Family, enabling funeral homes nationwide to broadcast Tribute Spotlights across local TV and publisher channels. Distribution widened. Workflow stayed simple. LinkedIn
The substitution framing over outright quitting is realy smart. Most habit change fails because peopel try to eliminate the ritual itself, not just the harmful part. I switched from coffee to green tea a while back and dunno why it worked so smooth until reading this, it was the same motion, same routine. Ultra seems to get that behavioral design piece that alot of wellness brands totally miss.