Anheuser-Busch InBev and Keurig Green Mountain have signed an agreement to enter into a research and development-driven joint venture that will be tasked with inventing an in-home alcohol drink system, the two companies announced today.
Specific financial terms of the transaction, including ownership percentages, were not disclosed and the deal is expected to close during the first quarter.
The new company, which is still unnamed, will source a combined 50 employees already working at A-B and Keurig. A majority of those jobs are based in Massachusetts and Vermont and will come from Keurig, an Anheuser-Busch official told Brewbound.
In a press statement, the two companies said the new venture would “build on the Keurig KOLD technology and system innovations and AB InBev’s brewing and packaging technology, and evolve them within the realm of the full adult beverage category.”
A development timeline has not been established, and specific product details, including the price and functionality of the system, are not yet known.
The product could resemble the Keurig Kold device that was discontinued last June, the Anheuser-Busch official said. That machine, a counter-top, pod-based system created to compete with SodaStream, was the product of a joint venture between Keurig and the Coca-Cola Co., Inc., which debuted at $369.
It’s unclear whether or not the company will look to design an in-home beer production system, but it’s worth noting that Anheuser-Busch, via its ZX Ventures “disruptive growth” division, has already made a minority investment in PicoBrew Inc., an automatic all-grain homebrewing appliance, A-B spokeswoman Gemma Hart confirmed.
Nathaniel Davis, who currently serves as the global vice president of innovation and development for A-B InBev, will lead the new venture as its CEO. Davis first joined A-B in 1999 as a brewing group manager based at the company’s Fort Collins facility.