Another Deal for Tilray 🔄

Welcome back to This Week in CPG, folks. Here’s what we’re covering this morning:

• Tilray stays in deal mode 🔄

• Roark closes in on Subway 🥖

• Yerbaé secures funding 🪙

• Supreme heads to Seoul 🆕

• Krispy Kreme debuts an unlikely collab 🍩

Deals 💰

Mergers & Acquisitions 

• Tilray, the Canadian cannabis and beverage firm that’s worth about $1.8B, acquired the remaining 57.5% stake in cannabis-infused beverage maker Truss Beverages. The seller is Molson Coors Canada. Tilray is bullish on adult-use cannabis beverages and currently commands about 36% of the market in Canada. CNBC

• New York-based private equity firm Roark Capital is close to acquiring Subway for a reported $9.6B. While Subway has undoubtedly gone downhill as a quick-service restaurant, it’s still a global brand with roughly 37,000 stores and I imagine pretty lucrative annual franchise fee revenue. WSJ 

• Roland Foods, a distributor of restaurant-quality ingredients & products, has purchased ifiGOURMET, a leading importer and distributor of premium products for professional use in the bakery, pastry, confectionery, and ice cream industries. Roland Foods is owned by American private equity firm Vestar Capital. PR Newswire

Fundraising

• Canadian RTD yerba mate brand Yerbaé closed the first tranche of a celebrity investment round that totaled $4m. They’re being coy about details but mention that a CrossFit champion and a country music star participated. Business Wire

• ENOUGH, a Scottish alt protein startup that leverages precision fermentation to produce a mycelium-based protein called ABUNDA, secured €40m in fresh funding. World Fund and CPT Capital co-led the round. TechCrunch

• According to Bloomberg, the largest grocery delivery service in the U.S., Instacart, is eyeing an IPO in September. Bloomberg

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What’s New 🤩

Apparel, Cosmetics, and Wellness

• Australian footwear brand Rollie launched a new collection that’s 100% vegan and made of cactus leather. The Chelsea boots in green look particularly good. Smart Company AU

• New York-based fragrance brand Snif has partnered with YouTuber and social media influencer Larray on a new scent — House of 8. The fragrance is a combination of chocolate, vanilla, and sandalwood balanced with white sage and iris. The collaboration drops on 8/24. House of 8 

• Supreme, the streetwear brand that VF Corp acquired for $2.1B toward the end of 2020, opened their first store in Seoul. This is their first retail store in Asia outside of Japan. WWD

• Iconic donut slinger Krispy Kreme has partnered with rhode, the skincare brand founded by Hailey Rhode Bieber, on a limited edition peptide lip treatment that tastes like a Strawberry Glazed donut. Instagram

• Pleasing, the beauty brand founded by Harry Styles, is preparing to launch a new line of fragrances. Three scents will be available: Rivulets, Closeness, and Bright, Hot. Their push into fragrance appears to be the first major move of new CEO Shaun Kearney who was previously at Goop. Cosmetics Business

Food, Beverage, and Alcohol

• Courvoisier, the cognac brand owned by Beam Suntory, collaborated with British artist and designer Yinka Ilori on a gorgeous limited edition bottle. The label is insanely beautiful IMO. Instagram

• Onyx Coffee Lab, the renowned coffee roaster from Rodgers, Arkansas, launched their first ready-to-mix coffee concentrates which are available for $25. More beautiful bottles although not quite as stunning as Courvoisier. Onyx

• Plant-based dressings and dips brand Mother Raw launched their first-ever line of condiments. Food Business News

• Better-for-you protein bar brand CanDo introduced a fun new flavor — Yuzu Lemon. Instagram

• Organic juice brand Sol-ti has named former Pressed Juicery CEO Pawan Kalra as its new President & CEO. BevNET

• La Colombe, the craft coffee brand that Keurig Dr Pepper backed last month, launched a Sweet Chai Latte. La Colombe

Data 🖥️

• People are still drinking a lot of energy drinks despite persistent price increases. Twitter

Distribution News 🚚

• Canadian functional frozen beverage brand Blender Bites launched at nearly 1,600 Walmart stores.

• Rabanne Beauty, FKA Paco Rabanne Beauty, will launch at Ulta Beauty in October following their brand refresh.

• Clean label infant nutrition brand ByHeart launched nationwide at Target.

• Baking mix brand GoNanas is now available nationwide at Whole Foods Market.