Barron Trump, the 20-year-old son of President Donald Trump, is listed as a director of Sollos Yerba Mate Inc., a beverage company registered in Florida and Delaware that has already raised $1 million in private capital and plans to begin selling its product as early as April 2026.
Business registration documents filed in both states name the youngest Trump alongside four other directors: Spencer Bernstein, Rudolfo Castello, Stephen Hall, and Valentino Gomez. The company is headquartered at a 4,500-square-foot property in Palm Beach, Florida, and is registered to a $16 million, five-bedroom residence owned by Jay Weitzman, described as a longtime Trump associate and donor.
Weitzman has denied any involvement in the company. According to Newsweek, he stated the address is being used because his grandson, one of the directors, lives there.
Whatever you think of the Trump name showing up on a beverage startup, the co-founders are putting skin in the game. Two of them have paused their college educations to make Sollos work, according to the Miami New Times.
Bernstein, a student at Villanova University, announced he was postponing his final semester after the company closed its seed round on January 8. He described the venture on LinkedIn as "something I've been building for the past eight months" and laid out the reasoning behind his decision:
"After weeks of contemplation, the decision became clear 30,000 feet in the air on my way back for what was supposed to be my final semester. On January 8, we hit a major milestone and closed our seed round. With a large DTC launch planned for the spring, I believe taking time off from class is necessary. I intend to complete my remaining coursework at a later date to receive my degree."
Hall, a University of Notre Dame student, made a similar move. In a January 2026 LinkedIn post, he said he was stepping away from his studies after a "successful pre-seed fundraising round" to "fully prioritize Sollos as we prepare for a spring DTC launch." He plans to return to Notre Dame in the fall.
Two college students dropping out, even temporarily, to chase a startup isn't unusual in American business. It's practically a Silicon Valley rite of passage. The difference here is the last name attached to one of the directors.
Sollos is positioning itself around the outdoor lifestyle culture of South Florida. The brand's LinkedIn page leans into that identity:
"Growing up in South Florida, we were shaped by the opportunity to spend time outdoors year-round. That experience led us to create Sollos, a beverage designed to complement life in the 'Sunshine State.'"
SEC filings show the company has raised $1 million in private capital. The direct-to-consumer launch is expected this spring, to go on sale in April 2026. The Zillow listing for the Palm Beach residence where the company is registered was removed from the site in January 2024, well before the company's public-facing activity began.
Unnamed "ethics experts" have reportedly raised questions about the "optics" of the venture. This is the part of the story where the media template practically writes itself: a Trump family member does something entirely legal, and a parade of anonymous institutional voices materializes to express vague concern.
A 20-year-old launching a drink company with college friends is not a scandal. It is commerce. Barron Trump has previously been linked to cryptocurrency ventures and a short-lived real estate company. None of that is unusual for someone from a wealthy, entrepreneurial family. The Kennedys had compound politics. The Bushes had oil. The Trumps build things and put their names on them.
The real question the "optics" crowd never answers is simple: what, specifically, is wrong? A young man whose father is the president filed business documents, raised capital through proper SEC channels, and registered a company at a real address. If there's a violation somewhere in that sequence, name it. If there isn't, the concern isn't about ethics. It's about the name on the filing.
The yerba mate market is crowded and competitive. Guayakí has owned the space for years, and newer entrants are fighting for shelf space in a health-conscious consumer economy that rewards branding as much as product quality. A Trump-adjacent beverage company will have no trouble generating attention. Converting that attention into sustained revenue is a different challenge entirely.
Sollos will succeed or fail on the same terms as any other startup: product, execution, and market timing. The founders are young, funded, and willing to bet their college semesters on the outcome. That's not an ethics story. That's an American one.
