Yanni Hufnagel

With sugar reduction a top priority among American consumers, Yanni Hufnagel 
entered the value-added water market at the perfect time with his award-winning 
beverage, Lemon Perfect. Within three years of selling its first bottle, The Lemon 
Perfect Company, now based in Atlanta, has attained a valuation of more than 
$100 million.

Founding a prosperous company is the second successful act in Hufnagel’s 
professional career, which spans two different areas: men’s college basketball 
coaching and building a beverage brand. He began his professional trajectory as an
assistant coach after graduating from Cornell University in 2006 with a Bachelor 
of Science and earning a master’s degree from the University of Oklahoma in 
2010. 

Hufnagel coached men’s basketball teams at top universities in the U.S., 
including Harvard University, Vanderbilt University, and the University of 
California, Berkeley. He helped the Harvard Crimson achieve its first-ever NCAA 
tournament victory and took university teams to the NCAA Division I Men’s 
Basketball Tournament six times.

Hufnagel demonstrated the same moxie that helped him earn the reputation 
as one of the top recruiters in college basketball when he decided to take a 
beverage to market in the enhanced water category, which grew faster in sales 
volume and dollars in 2021 than most traditional mass-market beverage categories.
A positive outlook is the most important trait a leader can have, according to
a worldwide study by business advisory board The Alternative Board. From 
coaching, an ever-optimistic Hufnagel learned to assemble a top-notch team, focus 
on strengths instead of weaknesses, and celebrate the wins. He founded The 
Lemon Perfect Company with the hope that Lemon Perfect could compete against 
existing beverages in the category, including Bai, Hint, and vitaminwater. 
It turns out Lemon Perfect can compete—mightily so. The five-calorie, no-
sugar, vitamin C-packed beverage contains half a squeezed organic lemon in each 
bottle. The company sells the drink at a low retail price, starting at $1.99 per bottle,
so it’s accessible to all audiences. 

In 2019, BevNET gave Lemon Perfect a spot among the Best New Products 
during its annual BevNET’s Best of Awards, a standard bearer in the industry. In 
January 2020, internationally celebrated award-winning artist and entrepreneur 
Beyoncé Knowles-Carter handed the startup an unexpected boost when one of her 
Instagram photos revealed that she drinks Lemon Perfect Dragon Fruit Mango 
(other flavors include Original Lemon, Strawberry Passion Fruit, Pineapple 
Coconut, Blueberry Açaí, and Peach Raspberry, and Kiwi Star Fruit).

Certified organic and non-GMO, Lemon Perfect contains no artificial flavors
and is made with organic plant-based sweeteners. 
In August 2020, Hufnagel took a significant step in putting Lemon Perfect 
before a larger audience of consumers, raising $11.6 million through private 
investors. As the company continued to hit milestones, it became clear additional 
investment was necessary to reach more consumers. 

The company closed a $31 million Series A funding round in April 2022, 
bringing its total funding to $42.2 million and total valuation to more than $100 
million. Several illustrious backers were behind the monumental cash influx, 
including Knowles-Carter and leading consumer products funds Beechwood 
Capital, NNS Capital, and Trousdale Ventures. 

Hufnagel was born August 26, 1982 and raised in Scarsdale, New York, 
where he was a high school basketball and lacrosse player, a captain of Scarsdale 
High School’s varsity lacrosse team, and the student color commentator for the 
school’s varsity basketball team's games on a local access cable TV channel.