Q Tonic's founders discovered an untapped market for natural, high-end tonic water. To help finance the company's rapid growth, we had to match their creativity with our own.

A top shelf tonic water

Q Tonic wants to change your relationship with tonic water. Its all-natural recipe features organic agave instead of high-fructose corn syrup, and uses hand-picked quinine from the Peruvian Andes. As a result, Q Tonic tastes crisp and clean - like tonic water was intended - has 60% fewer calories and is a much better match for top-shelf spirits.

With conumers thirsty for healthy, high-quality food and beverage items, Q Tonic debuted with a splash in May 2007. A good number of America's best restaurants, bars and gourmet grocers have started to carry the new product.

Quenching the thirst for capital

Fast growth means fast spending - a tough challenge for a company just out of the gate. Q Tonic wanted to meet the growing demand but still control its own destiny. They asked us for a strategy that would conserve cash and minimize the restrictions of debt capital and the high cost of equity. In response, we developed plans that give Q Tonic's vendors, customers, business partners and employees an interest in future growth in return for investments of time, resources and expertise. We also helped the company design early-round equity offerings more cost-effectively and at a lower total cost of capital.

Q Tonic ended 2007 with more rapid growth and is well positioned to continue its expansion. Now available from Massachusetts to California, it is reshaping the cocktail hour nationwide.