Sesame Summit 2026 – application open

SAPINCA: Non-Alcoholic Drinks with Latin Roots & Fruits

The rise of non-alcoholic beverages is one of the top 10 food tech trends. Entrepreneur Diederick Evers learned this early on from his mom, Bernadette, a Dutch chef who runs a cooking school in Amsterdam.

blank

.

The Birth of SAPINCA: A Response to Alcohol-Free Demand

During her workshops and food events, guests started asking if she could serve alcohol-free drinks, but she wasn’t happy with the available options. 

This inspired the mom-and-son pair to create SAPINCA, a non-alcoholic beverage brand that also aims to be healthy and powerfully tasty, thanks to exotic ingredients.

blank

.

SAPINCA’s Unique Ingredients: A Blend of Exotic and Forgotten

“Sap” means juice in Dutch, but it is the second half of the brand’s name, Inca, that reveals its other favorite ingredients. Besides fruits, SAPINCA drinks contain roots from South America, such as ashwagandha, maca, yacon and tapioca, whose flavors Diederick became fascinated with while traveling around the world.

The duo is also convinced that these “forgotten” ingredients have medicinal properties, and this selling point will resonate with some. 

blank

The company even goes one step further by referring to its products as “magical elixirs,” while noting that its name is also a nod to the monarch of the Inca Empire, the Sapa Inca, or “son of the sun.”

Luckily for the Evers, neither “divine” nor “magical” are protected designations. But since this brand positioning has a somewhat niche appeal, the company also makes sure to cater to clients who are more interested in knowing that SAPINCA drinks are vegan and organic, for instance.

blank

The Dutch brand has more down-to-earth arguments on hand, such as its high shelf life, as well as the absence of added sugar — another key concern of consumers these days. 

All of this places SAPINCA within a category that includes first mover GIMBER and its ginger-based drinks, which are also available as ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages.

Similarly to its competitor, SAPINCA hopes that its product range including elixirs, RTDs and power foods will be available through multiple channels. 

blank

These include direct to consumer (DTC) through SAPINCA’s site, with the advantage of offering delivery across Europe, but with the challenge that prospective clients won’t know what the products taste like. Unless, of course, all they need to know is that the drinks boast a “unique taste sensation and the color and power of the sun.”

Because shelf presence helps a lot, the company is also seeking to grow its B2B sales, both through organic stores and big retailers, where it expects that most of its clients will be women above the age of 35 with an active lifestyle.

.

Future Growth: SAPINCA’s Expansion Plans and Investment Opportunities

The dynamic Evers mother-and-son duo also plans to use their participation in SIAL Startup Invest next fall to seek new business and an investor that can help them grow in Europe. After branching out of their home country into Belgium and the Baltics, they more recently expanded into France and Spain, with their eyes set on Bulgaria and Scandinavia in the near future.

blank

you might also like

blank
Events 2 days ago

Last week, I spent three days at Bits and Pretzels in Munich — a startup-focused event with a distinctly Bavarian flavor. Think Oktoberfest meets startup conference, complete with dirndls, lederhosen, and more beer than you might expect. As someone building an AI-powered event platform, I went in with a specific mission: Observe how startups actually market themselves at events. Here’s what I discovered: GoodBytz: The power of good demos What they did: Robotics startup GoodBytz set up a booth where its robots prepared kaiserschmarrn (a traditional German dessert) all day long. Why it worked: Nothing beats seeing a product in action. While other booths had brochures and demos, GoodBytz’s robots were actually cooking. The smell, the movement and the end result stirred together an experience that people will remember and talk about. The lesson: If you have a physical product, show it in action. The old writing adage generalizes well: Show, don’t tell.  Let people see, hear and touch the product. WeRoad: The bathroom hack What they did: Posted “Missing Investor” flyers in bathroom stalls with QR codes pointing to their website. Why it worked: Pure genius. Every startup at the event was looking for investors, but the “Missing Investor” headline, while a bit on the nose, proved irresistible. Plus, bathroom stalls are one of the few places where people have 30 seconds to actually read something. The lesson: Think about where your target audience’s attention will remain undivided. Sometimes, the most effective marketing leverages the most unexpected places. Emqopter: Visual impact matters What they did: Designed a bright orange booth that displayed their drone prominently. Why it worked: In a sea of grey, white, beige and brown, Emqopter’s bright orange booth was impossible to overlook. The drone was real, too, and proved a real conversation starter. The lesson: Your booth is competing with hundreds of others. Make it visually distinctive and ensure your product is the hero. Quests: Community building using the product What they did: Created a busy, branded booth with accessories (toy car, traffic cones, a bulletin board) and used their anti-loneliness app to build communities among founders at the event. Why it worked: Quests used their product to solve a real problem right at the event, and the busy booth design generated energy and curiosity. The lesson: Use your product to solve a problem at the event — if it’s possible, of course. Demonstrate your value in real time. Dyno: Event-themed marketing What they did: Distributed branded electrolyte packs with the tagline “Your hangover ends. Your pension lasts – with Dyno.” Why it worked: Dyno aligned its messaging perfectly with the Oktoberfest theme. Every attendee was thinking about beer and hangovers, so Dyno’s goodies were quite relevant. The tagline was clever, memorable, and directly addressed a pain point most people at the event might have to deal with later. The lesson: Tailor your marketing to the event’s theme and culture. The more you tie your messaging and product to the context, the more memorable you become. So, what did I learn? Event marketing is about more than just showing up and setting up a booth; you have to understand your audience and create experiences that people will remember. Here’s what really struck me: most startups and even big companies don’t know how to leverage events properly. They book the booth, show up and hope for the best; maybe they bring some branded pens and a pop-up banner. Then they’ll go back home and wonder why they spent €5,000 in exchange for 50 business cards that never convert. The startups that stood out at Bits and Pretzels understand something fundamental: event ROI isn’t about booth size or location; it’s about strategy, creativity and planning. None of the startups above improvised on-site, or planned something the night before the event in their hotel rooms. They laid everything out 4-6 weeks before the event. A solid pre-event strategy is what separates successful event marketing from expensive booth rental.  But what matters most for early-stage startups is that you don’t need a massive budget to stand out. WeRoad’s bathroom stall hack probably cost €50 to print the flyers. A standard booth package at Bits and Pretzels would go for €3,000 to €5,500. The ROI difference is staggering when you compare the cost per meaningful conversation. That’s the difference between simply spending money and investing smartly. Building Sesamers has taught me that helping startups find the right events is only half the equation. The other half is helping them understand how to maximize ROI once they’re there. Good props aren’t a marketing expense; they’re opportunities to meet customers, investors and partners, and strike up engaging conversations.

blank
New Materials 3 days ago

Lios Group, the Irish startup behind SoundBounce, was a winner of JEC Composites Startup Booster 2018, and has been making significant strides since taking home the award.

blank
New Materials 1 week ago

Tree Composites aims to accelerate the energy transition with innovative composite joints.

Subscribe to
our Newsletter!

Stay at the forefront with our curated guide to the best upcoming Tech events.