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Can you have popcorn without corn? Serial entrepreneur Jess Davidoff and tennis star Novak Djokovic certainly think so. At the Hellenic Championship tennis tournament in Athens, Greece, on Saturday, the pair officially launched Cob, a sorghum-based “popcorn” brand. In addition to leading a $5 million seed round, 24-time Grand Slam Champion Djokovic is coming on board as a co-founder. “I prioritize companies that have products that my family and I actually use and consume,” says Djokovic, who has also invested in a handful of wellness and sports-related startups. “I can not only add value but act as a sounding board for future product innovations.” Like many businesses, Cob sprang from a personal need. Soon after Davidoff’s first son started eating solid food, he began to have severe, unexplained health issues. With doctors unable to pinpoint a cause, she started eliminating foods from his diet to see if a food allergy might be the cause. Eventually, she zeroed in on corn as the potential culprit, and an allergist confirmed the diagnosis. Finding a Corn Alternative Corn allergies are relatively rare, but they’re also extremely challenging to work around, since corn is used to make common food additives like corn syrup, riboflavin, and citric acid. “I essentially couldn’t feed him anything that was packaged or from a restaurant, so I started making everything myself,” says Davidoff. “One of the foods that I particularly missed was popcorn.” Featured Video An Inc.com Featured Presentation She went to New York specialty grocer Kalustyan’s and bought a bunch of grains to see what might pop well. “Most of them tasted like a bad rice cake,” she says. “I stumbled upon sorghum, which happened to pop just like popcorn, and we started to make it all the time.” Davidoff was impressed by the nutritional and environmental profile of sorghum, a drought-resistant grain often found in dishes in parts of Africa and Asia. In the U.S., most of it is grown in the so-called Sorghum Belt that stretches from South Dakota to Texas, and it’s primarily used for ethanol and animal feed. But because its nutrient dense and gluten free (like corn), it’s beginning to appear in American health food aisles and baby foods: Little Spoon and Jennifer Garner’s baby food brand Once Upon a Farm both use sorghum in their puffed baby snacks. Davidoff’s friends liked the popped sorghum as well, and by the time her second son was also diagnosed with a corn allergy, she believed there might be a market for corn-free snacks. Early in her career, Davidoff founded and sold several education and tech firms before settling into a career as a turnaround CEO for celebrity and consumer brands. “I absolutely loved what I did,” says Davidoff. “I honestly thought I would do that for the rest of my career, but I stumbled upon sorghum and decided to jump back in the founder seat.” She picked the name Cob because “the cob is what’s left once we take all the corn away,” she says, and began selling bags at farmers’ markets and specialty stores in the Hamptons last summer. Most people had never heard of sorghum, but they liked what they tasted. In fact, Cob sold out of its initial inventory in just six weeks. Courting a Tennis Legend Davidoff had a hit on her hands, but she needed a business partner who could help her get the word out. On a run, Novak Djokovic’s name popped into her head. “I was drenched in sweat. I came into my husband’s office, and I’m like, I’m going to get Novak Djokovic,” she remembers. “He’s the perfect co-founder for this because he talks extensively about his plant-based diet and why ancient grains are so good for you.” She didn’t know him, but a professional tennis player whose brand she’d worked for in the past was able to relay a message to Djokovic’s team, and they arranged a call. “He loved the idea,” Davidoff says. But Djokovic wanted to be sure the product held up to scrutiny. “I met with his nutrition team, who vetted everything,” says Davidoff. “They had such extensive questions to the point where I had to chat with an agronomist to fully understand how sorghum absorbs heavy metals from soil.” After that, she flew to Europe with samples for Djokovic and his family to try. Djokovic was impressed by Davidoff’s background and personal connection to the brand. He agreed to come on as a co-founder, offering input on product development and marketing—and not to mention his star power and 16 million Instagram followers. Finding the Right Flavor While Djokovic is known for his meticulous eating habits and sticking to a gluten-free, largely plant-based diet, the co-founders knew they needed to make something that would be both healthy and commercially viable. “It’s been fun to do that tango between what is in Novak’s fridge versus what’s going to work when we want to [get into] Target,” Davidoff says. If the company had stuck with Novak’s strict diet, it probably would only have been able to offer its Mediterranean Herb and Olive Oil & Pink Salt flavors. “No dairy, and nothing sweet,” she says. But Cob also offers a Seriously Cheesy flavor topped with organic Parmesan that’s already a hit with kid testers. (For his part, Djokovic says Olive Oil & Pink Salt is his favorite flavor.) Cob is available for online preorders starting November 1, and Davidoff hopes to be in retail stores by late 2026. With time, Cob plans to roll out other snacks and pantry staples with sorghum as the hero ingredient. So far, Cob’s founders are mum about what the next product will be, but Djokovic offered a hint: “It might make an amazing side dish for your holiday meals!”
