If You Can’t Beat ’Em, Buy ’Em: Celsius’ Instagram Moment

What Instagram did for Meta, Alani Nu could do for Celsius. One bold acquisition may define the next era in energy drinks.

In 2012, Facebook was already losing its grip on the cool crowd.

The blue app worked on desktops, but the future was mobile. And the app winning on mobile was Instagram.

Instagram was barely two years old. It had fewer than 20 employees. It had 30 million users. It wasn’t even available on Androids yet. And it had zero revenue.

What it did have was cultural gravity.

Filters that made everyday photos feel special. A simple, mobile-first design that felt natural to younger users. On college campuses and in coffee shops, Instagram was where the energy was shifting.

Zuckerberg saw the threat. He also saw the opportunity.

"How much we should be willing to pay to acquire mobile app companies like Instagram...These companies have the properties where they have millions of users (up to about 20m at the moment for Instagram), fast growth, a small team (10-25 employees) and no revenue.

The businesses are nascent but the networks are established, the brands are already meaningful and if they grow to a large scale they could be very disruptive to us. 

These entrepreneurs don't want to sell (largely inspired our success), but at a high enough price -- like $500m or $1b -- they'd have to consider it...we're vulnerable in mobile..."

Mark Zuckerberg in leaked emails

Rather than compete, he made one of the boldest moves in tech history. A billion-dollar offer for a company that had never sold a single ad.

People called it reckless.

But the bet paid off.

Instagram became the growth engine inside Meta, now responsible for nearly half of the company’s revenue. Advertisers flocked to it because that’s where young consumers were spending their time, scrolling Reels and Stories on their phones.

Instagram gave Facebook a lifeline in the mobile era and transformed META into one of the most powerful advertising companies in the world.

That same choice, to acquire rather than compete, is now on display in the energy drink aisle.

Celsius (CELH), the energy drink touted as “good-for-you” and embraced by fitness enthusiasts, rose from underdog to true segment disruptor. The company muscled into the No. 3 slot behind Red Bull and Monster. A 2022 distribution pact with PepsiCo put its cans in gas stations, supermarkets, and gyms across the country.

For several years revenue growth was nothing short of explosive, triple-digit gains quarter after quarter. But that streak began to slow. Sales were still climbing, yet the pace of expansion was easing, and investors started asking what the next chapter would be.

Meanwhile, across the aisle, a challenger was heating up.

Alani Nu.

Launched in Louisville in 2018, the brand took a different approach to energy. Pastel cans, influencer clout, and a loyal female fan base that Monster and Red Bull had never cracked. It turned energy drinks into a lifestyle, something consumers were proud to post on Instagram. In less than seven years Alani Nu surged past a billion dollars in retail sales, becoming a fixture in gyms, supplement shops, and college towns.

Celsius could have tried to fight it. Instead, it made the Instagram move.

In February 2025, Celsius announced it would acquire Alani Nu for $1.8 billion. The deal closed April 1. In its first quarter under the Celsius umbrella, Alani Nu generated $301 million in sales, helping push total revenue up 84% year over year to $739 million.

And the real synergy is only beginning. LikeFolio data proves it.

Alani Nu grew fast without the benefit of a global distribution engine. Celsius already has that through Pepsi. The same trucks that made Celsius ubiquitous can now carry Alani Nu into supermarkets, convenience stores, and college campuses nationwide.

What Louisville has known for years is about to go global.

For Celsius, the acquisition adds more than shelf space. It brings cultural relevance in a demographic it had struggled to reach. For Alani Nu, it unlocks scale that would have taken years to build alone.

When Facebook bought Instagram, it wasn’t buying revenue. It was buying the future. Celsius may have just done the same.