Bob (30) and Max Ponsen (27) founded the hard seltzer brand GiG Hard Seltzer together with investor Ernest Menten. In February 2025, the brothers and Menten sold their entire stake in GiG to beverage producer Vrumona (known for brands such as Pepsi, Royal Club, and Sisi). Earlier acquisition talks with Vrumona initially came to nothing, but about a year later, the deal was finally closed. Bob and Max will remain in their roles as CEO and CFO, respectively.
Although there had been productive discussions earlier, the initial attempt to sell GiG to Vrumona fell through. For Bob Ponsen and his brother Max, however, that was no reason to give up, and a year later, the deal was finally sealed. “It had to be Vrumona, no matter what.”
It all started when Max Ponsen (27) noticed a remarkable trend while studying in the United States. In his freshman year, students were still guzzling excessive amounts of beer, but by the end of his studies, that had been almost entirely replaced by hard seltzer—a lightly alcoholic, low-calorie mixed drink consisting of 4 to 5% alcohol and sparkling water with added fruit flavoring.
Max told the story to his brother Bob (30), and the two of them thought: if they can do it in America, we should be able to do it here in the Netherlands, too. Bob: “Here in our country, too, there was a growing awareness among millennials and Gen Z that beer might be too high in calories, cocktails too sweet, too expensive, and too high in alcohol, and that there had to be healthier alternatives available.”
Dream buyer
However, the brothers needed an investor to carry out their plans. They got in touch with Wassenaar-based real estate entrepreneur Ernest Menten, and together they came up with the idea of launching the product as GiG. Ponsen: “Ernest already had an affinity for the beverage industry and had once wanted to launch his own beer brand. But that plan was shelved because, in the end, he didn’t dare take on the competition from Heineken.”
And so GiG Hard Seltzer, led by the young Ponsen brothers, was born. What followed was a period starting in 2020 where GiG tried to appeal to the target group through ambassadors and through guerrilla marketing. And it succeeded. There was also a strong commitment to partnerships with buyers. These were festival organizers, sports clubs, student associations and supermarkets including Dirk and Jumbo.
Despite stiff competition, the Ponsen brothers managed to take the Dutch ready-to-drink market by storm. And that didn’t go unnoticed by the major beverage producers. Although earlier talks with Vrumona didn’t immediately bear fruit, the brothers always remained hopeful that a takeover of GiG by the soft drink giant would still go through. Bob: “There were exploratory talks with other parties in the meantime, but every time we ended up back at the same one. That was Vrumona. It would and had to be them.”
In February 2025, together with investor Menten, they sold 100% of the shares in GiG to Vrumona, the producer of brands such as Pepsi, Royal Club, and Sisi. “They simply have a lot of clout in the distribution sector, and we at GiG can only benefit from that,” Bob explains. “In addition, Vrumona shares a number of core values that you also find at GiG. One of those core values is that GiG sees itself as fresh, and the same is true for Vrumona.”
Startup feeling
After the sale to Vrumona, Bob, as CEO, and Max, as CFO, decided to stay on board and work with Vrumona to further establish the brand. GiG now has between 10 and 15 employees on its payroll. Their youngest brother, Just (23)—who has been a key figure at GiG from day one because he belongs to an even younger target audience—has also joined the company as an account manager.
Since the acquisition by Vrumona, little has changed at GiG, although the soft drink company has since set up an integration team to further incorporate GiG into the Vrumona organization. According to Ponsen, there are no plans yet to relocate the GiG team to Bunnik, where Vrumona’s headquarters are located. Furthermore, he has viewed the acquisition by Vrumona as nothing but a positive development.
Bob: “We do bounce ideas off each other, but other than that, they just let us do our own thing. We also recently opened a new office in Amsterdam’s Westpoort (the former Western Port Area). It’s a building with a huge storage area underneath where we can store part of our inventory, so our delivery drivers can take it straight to a festival, for example, if needed. In that sense, we still feel like a startup,” says Ponsen.
The product lineup has since expanded to include a hard lemonade and a hard iced tea, both of which contain alcohol. He’s particularly proud that GiG is the first alcoholic beverage in Vrumona’s portfolio. “Other than that, they’re all just soft drinks.” He’s also proud that GiG is one of only four or five hard seltzers still on the Dutch market. “The rest have already disappeared from the scene.”
Don't just apply a multiple to it
Ponsen won’t disclose how much Vrumona paid for GiG, as that was agreed upon with the soft drink producer. However, he is willing to lift a corner of the veil on how the acquisition price was (or wasn’t) determined. “When Vrumona acquired us, we had revenue of between 4 and 5 million euros. But it’s not as if , in an acquisition like this, you can simply apply a multiple and assume that 4 or 5 times the revenue would have been paid for it. Because that’s just not how it works with a deal like this.”
The reason Bob and Max Ponsen are staying on at GiG for the time being is that they are far from finished building out the brand and because they are eager to take Vrumona into the next phase of growth. “We have no plans to slow down.”
Frequently Asked Questions About the Sale of GiG Hard Seltzer
Who are the founders of GiG Hard Seltzer?
GiG Hard Seltzer was founded by brothers Bob (30) and Max Ponsen (27), together with investor Ernest Menten. Max discovered hard seltzer while studying in the United States and brought the idea back to the Netherlands.
To whom did the Ponsen brothers sell GiG Hard Seltzer?
In February 2025, Bob and Max Ponsen, together with investor Ernest Menten, sold 100% of the shares in GiG to Vrumona, the producer of Pepsi, Royal Club, Sisi, and other brands.
Why didn’t Vrumona’s acquisition go through right away?
Earlier, exploratory talks with Vrumona did not immediately bear fruit. However, the brothers remained hopeful that a takeover would still go through, and about a year later, the deal was finally finalized.
Will Bob and Max Ponsen remain involved with GiG after the acquisition?
Yes. Bob will remain as CEO and Max as CFO. Their youngest brother, Just (23), is now also employed at GiG as an account manager. The business has between 10 and 15 employees.
For how much was GiG Hard Seltzer sold to Vrumona?
The purchase price has not been disclosed; this was agreed upon with Vrumona. Bob Ponsen does note, however, that the price was not simply determined by applying a fixed multiple to GiG’s revenue of 4 to 5 million euros at the time of the acquisition.
