Fast-Growing Hydration Brand Cure Reaches 27,000 Retail Doors With Walmart Launch

The mega-chain is rolling out Cure online and to 4,500 stores nationwide in the brand’s largest retail expansion to date, representing nearly Walmart’s entire U.S. fleet and bringing Cure’s total retail door count to 27,000. Walmart will carry an edited assortment of Cure’s products for adults and children, including $15.98 10-count boxes of Watermelon and Strawberry Kiwi, a $24.98 16-count Classic Variety Pack and a $10.98 six-count Kids Variety Pack.

The products at Walmart highlight Cure’s push to become a hydration brand for the entire family. Cure launched in 2019 with an electrolyte hydration powder made with organic coconut water and pink Himalayan salt and no added sugar or artificial ingredients. It has since branched into children’s hydration with a pediatrician-approved and allergen-tested line, while its core products recently received OB-GYN approval for use during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

The Walmart debut is a full-circle moment for Cure founder and CEO Lauren Picasso. Prior to founding Cure, she worked in performance marketing at Jet.com, an e-commerce platform that was acquired by Walmart in 2016 and shuttered four years later. She developed her retail chops before then with stints at Rent the Runway and Bloomingdale’s.

“We want to meet customers where they’re at,” says Picasso. “Accessibility is really important to us. When we interview our customers, the retailers they actually expect to find us in are Target and Walmart. Walmart, especially, is the most accessible retailer in the country. The majority of Americans live within 10 miles of one.”

Retail expansion growth

Cure’s Walmart launch comes on the heels of its entrance into 1,227 Target stores nationwide in June and marks 35% year-over-year growth in retail doors. Beyond the big-box channel, Cure is available at Ulta Beauty, The Vitamin Shoppe and Whole Foods, where its sales are up more than 192% in the last 13 weeks, surpassing legacy brands in just one year on shelves and ranking as the No. 2 electrolyte brand in stores.

Cure also has a thriving Amazon business. Its market share on the platform jumped 525%, and it’s the fastest-growing hydration brand among the category’s top 10. Its active subscribers grew 9X on Amazon as well. On its direct-to-consumer platform, Cure has registered a 40% repeat purchase rate with more than 33,000 active subscribers and 220,000 new customers in 2026 alone. Across its distribution, Cure has grown 561% over the last three years and has scored a spot on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies in the United States three years in a row.

Like Target, Walmart has been making premiumization moves in beauty and wellness in recent years, opening its shelves to ingredient-conscious brands such as Cure. At $15.98 for a 10-count box, Cure carries a premium price compared with traditional hydration products, but at roughly $1.60 per serving, it’s priced relatively close to category heavyweight Liquid I.V. Unilever acquired Liquid I.V. in 2020, and the brand is closing in on $1 billion in annual sales.

“It’s been interesting to see Walmart completely transform as a retailer over the past 10 years,” says Picasso. “It’s really exciting for me personally.”

Market and sales growth

Cure is scaling amid a surge of interest in hydration products, with the U.S. rapid hydration market surpassing $2 billion in retail sales for the 52 weeks ended Oct. 14, 2025, and registering a compound annual growth rate of more than 20% over the prior three years, according to Circana. The surge has coincided with premiumization, rising demand for functional products and growing GLP-1 use, another tailwind for hydration.

Cure’s differentiation relies on bridging hydration science and better-for-you ingredients. Its formulations are based on the World Health Organization’s Oral Rehydration Solution, which balances glucose, sodium and potassium. The brand has particularly resonated with millennial moms looking for alternatives to legacy sports drinks with artificial ingredients. Picasso herself is among them.

“We took that same science but used better ingredients,” she says.

Financial performance and plans

Despite its frenetic pace of expansion, Cure has managed to navigate the current economic climate with financial discipline. Picasso says the brand has been profitable since 2024 and isn’t currently pursuing funding.

Cure has raised $8.2 million in outside funding, most recently a $5.6 million Series A round in 2023 led by Lerer Hippeau with participation from new and existing investors including Valedor Partners, Simple Food Ventures, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Joyance Partners and Silas Capital. It previously raised a $2.6 million seed round in 2020.

Peering ahead, Cure isn’t chasing buzzy adjacent categories such as protein and fiber. Instead, it plans to deepen its position in hydration and extend its flavor assortment. Picasso is similarly focused on Cure’s growth rather than an immediate exit.

“For me personally, I feel like we have so much more white space,” she says. “The goal is really just to create a product and a brand that people love and that we can continue to expand and get into as many hands as possible.”