Entrepreneurs Today reached out to Shivansh Sharma, a Scientist, Artist, Entrepreneur and a bit of an Adrenaline Junkie, to learn more about his current ventures in the beverage industry.
The 2-year-old beverage brands, Cnergy and Sober Monkey, founded by Shivansh Sharma, are flipping scripts of how the “Health drinks” companies package and market their products.
He calls both of them a subtle rebellion against everything that passes off as “healthy” in the Indian beverage space.
The Spark
Shivansh didn’t grow up with a dream of launching beverage brands. But he did grow up around labs, audits, formulations, and conversations that often involved compliance deadlines and quality benchmarks. His family’s pharmaceutical business gave him a taste of what rigour really looked like.
When Shivansh signed up for a degree in chemical engineering, he soon realised chemical engineering was nothing like the chemistry he’d once loved.
Though Shivansh had always pictured himself building a business, the path wasn’t without its share of uncertainties and moments that felt like he was starting all over again from scratch.
However, along the way, he spotted a glaring gap in the beverage industry. This widely accepted belief is that ‘if it’s healthy, it has to taste bad,’ made him question why can’t real, healthy product taste good.
And that sparked a whole movement against the “Healthy” labels currently being marketed. Shivansh says,
“That insight led me to create Ayuryay Organics. I registered the company in 2020 and, after two years of R&D, launched our beverage brands Cnergy and Sober Monkey in 2024.”
It took Shivansh two years of R&D to launch his company and the brands, Cnergy and Sober Monkey.
Shivansh says Cnergy is India’s first zero-sugar functional drink, featuring creatine, amino acids, and natural caffeine extracted from green coffee. As the inventor of its patented formulation, he makes sure that all the flavours that go in are natural, with nothing artificial sneaking in.
On the other hand, Sober Monkey is a line of low-sugar mixers, tonic, ginger ale, and soda, with more flavors in the line for development. Both brands, as Shivansh puts it, are built on pharma-grade discipline. With patented formulations, transparent labels, and safe ingredients, he wants to show what truly being healthy looks like, an idea rooted in trust and built for long-term relationships with customers.
The Backstory
Shivansh notes that while the global market has already seen brands and investors lean into the “healthy” drinks space, India is still catching up. Big players continue to put sugar and taste ahead of health, and that’s exactly the gap newer brands need to bridge.
When asked about his vision for Cnergy, Shivansh explains how most traditional energy drinks depend on sugar for that quick “boost,” only to leave you crashing soon after. Functional drinks, on the other hand, sit somewhere between energy drinks and sports drinks, delivering sustained energy, aiding recovery, and keeping you hydrated, without the sugar overload. Cnergy’s mix of natural caffeine, creatine, and amino acids fuels you up, helps muscles bounce back, and keeps hydration in check.
And with Sober Monkey, though the name takes a playful turn, the commitment to transparency never wavered. Shivansh points out that while typical mixers pack around 9% sugar, theirs has just 4%, a small change that makes a big difference. That cut not only reduces the sugar-induced hangover effect but also keeps the taste and mouthfeel intact.
For him, numbers matter just as much as the ingredients that go into every beverage leaving his factory. Cnergy, for instance, contains zero sugar compared to the 27–30g found in most energy drinks. And Sober Monkey’s ginger ale has around 10g, while similar products pack in over 27g.
And this, for Shivansh, is the opportunity to create genuinely healthier and better-tasting alternatives.
The Consumer Perception
While Shivansh makes it a norm to educate consumers before selling to them, the novelty of these products in the Indian market brings its own challenges in positioning and shaping brand narratives.
With consumers growing increasingly conscious about what goes into their products, his mission to establish authority has found solid ground. Cnergy and Sober Monkey’s bold labels and detailed ingredient lists stand as proof. For Shivansh, it’s one of their strongest USPs.
Shivansh envisions Cnergy in the hands of creators, coders, campaigners, caffeine lovers, stage performers, designers, doctors, Gym goers, and everyone who chooses stamina over sugar.
It’s urban, health-forward, and tailored to a generation that reads food labels the way they read reviews.
The Struggles
Like any business owner, Shivansh faced his share of struggles and setbacks. One of the first hurdles was maintaining a smooth distribution and supply chain. Coming from a pharmaceutical background, he had no deep-rooted FMCG connections to ease offline distribution.
Quick commerce, however, turned the tide. His brands found a place on Blinkit and are in talks with other platforms too. Yet, the traditional offline distribution network remains a tough nut to crack.
Then comes the next big challenge, maintaining product quality while scaling to a wider audience. This is where his background in chemical engineering and pharmaceuticals steps in. While they don’t manufacture pharmaceutical products themselves, Shivansh’s deep understanding of production has helped him design robust quality control and assurance processes. For him, Shivanch says,
“Maintaining and improving quality is an ongoing journey, you constantly need to raise your internal standards just to stay consistent.”
The Achievements
Shivansh counts getting his products patented as his biggest achievement, one that opens doors to international markets and places them on global innovation databases. Shivansh is also proud of single-handedly taking charge of the entire R&D process.
While the past years were about laying the foundation and building momentum, the present is all about Ayuryay Organics streamlining sales and strengthening their online presence. Blinkit has been a game-changer, with offline distribution units now set up in and around Punjab.
Given the premium quality and pricing, their products are performing far better in metro and tier-1 cities than in tier-2 or tier-3 towns.
The brand has also made its way into clubs, gyms, and government sports institutions, where their products have secured a spot on the shelves. And all of this has been achieved without a single rupee spent on PR or media. Shivansh also reveals,
“Additionally, MNCs like Tata Consumer Products have audited and approved our plant, which is a significant milestone in the industry. While this might not be widely understood by everyday consumers, it’s a huge mark of credibility.”
The Future Outlook
Shivansh has a lot lined up for the future of Sober Monkey and Cnergy.
Sober Monkey is all set to make a sugar-free range of ginger ale, tonic water, and flavored sodas. Shivansh says that their formulations will change the scene without compromising on flavor.
In the functional-drink segment under Cnergy, they already have two to three unique products in the pipeline.
While Shivansh envisions a great future for his brands, he believes that true innovation isn’t just about creating products but about shaping experiences that leave a lasting mark on people’s lives.
The Takeaways
For budding entrepreneurs who are looking forward to entering the beverage industry, Shivansh highlights that it’s one of the most competitive industries, due to giants like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Red Bull, and now Reliance’s entry with Campa.
One of the lessons he has learned to be successful in the industry is to understand your brand’s USP, and to know what makes your brand unique and never waver. He also stresses the importance of thoroughly validating with rigorous trial runs and beta tests for the formulations and the processes.
Lastly, as he signs off, Shivansh says,
“When you can’t find what you seek, invent it. In the creator’s economy, India is the place to build. I’m reimagining how healthy can also be irresistibly tasty in the beverage industry.”
