Wellness-seekers are buying the dip.
What’s happening: Ultra, maker of nicotine-free oral pouches, landed $11M in a round led by Left Lane Capital, with participation from athletes Joe Burrow and Dak Prescott.
Claiming “instant focus in a pouch,” Ultra blends paraxanthine—a jitter-free caffeine metabolite—with alpha-GPC, L-theanine, and B vitamins to deliver sustained energy for up to two hours.
Poppin’. As cigarette sales plummet, oral nicotine surged ~35% in 2025, with sales expected to hit $25B by 2030. Finding new users, ~10% of Gen Z regularly uses nicotine pouches.
More than a vice, 35% of 18-to-24-year-olds cite mental focus as their top health goal (per SPINS), turning performance pouches into a daily ritual.
Lip service. Still, nicotine’s addictive nature is prompting brands like Wip, Nectr, and Boost to pursue alternatives — blending caffeine with compounds like chromium, citicoline, and lion’s mane. Meanwhile, Sett uses proprietary biosimilar Ceretine to lessen dependence.
Locked in. Taking the opposite approach, others are leaning in. Athletic Nicotine claims “clean” formulations, Tucker Carlson’s ALP celebrates nicotine’s addictive tendency, and Lucy nicotine-maxxes with a 12mg pouch.
Looking ahead: Convenient, discreet, and fast-acting, nicotine is now sold as cognitive enhancement. Repackaging performance stacks, wellness-coded oral pouches are emerging as a new nootropic delivery system.
