Aura Bora Gets Acquired, Brother's Bond Raises $7.5M 🥃

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CPG WIRE
February 20, 2025

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

  • Huda Beauty sells KAYALI 💰

  • KTB buys Helly Hansen 🎿

  • Nike partners with SKIMS 👀

  • OLIPOP hires Coca-Cola vet 📈

  • Ripi adds retailers 🍝

Aura Bora Gets Acquired 🫧

Popular sparkling water brand Aura Bora is under new management after selling to Next in Natural, a boutique private equity firm and brand operator based in Brooklyn, New York. According to a report from Inc. Magazine, Aura Bora was forced to sell due to a lack of profitability and a tepid fundraising environment. 

This outcome for Aura Bora is both a surprise and not very surprising at all when you take a few different variables into account. Aura Bora wasn’t lacking for growth — revenue in 2024 doubled to $12M and their store count hit 11,000 — but the sparkling water category is just brutally competitive. 

Every day Aura Bora competes against a myriad of players with deeper pockets, better margins, and greater scale. Just look at the Circana data below for reference (thanks to Mark Gallo for sharing this on Twitter):

With so many other recognizable brands in the category, often at more affordable prices, it’s too easy for consumers to trade down from a premium brand like Aura Bora to a mass one like La Croix.

Tom Foster hit the nail on the head in his Inc. Magazine piece:

“If Aura Bora were much smaller and hadn’t raised institutional capital, it might be able to survive as a nice lifestyle business — but its growth would be severely constrained. And if Aura Bora were much larger, with wider margins — say, a profitable business doing $30 million in sales annually, or a nonprofitable $100 million in sales — it could raise a monster Series B. Aura Bora is neither. It’s a successful national boutique brand, and that’s a tricky position to be in today.”

This wasn’t the ideal outcome for Aura Bora, but husband-and-wife duo Paul & Maddie Voge should be proud of what they built. Aura Bora established a cult following in a very competitive category, brought some truly unique products to market, and created some viral collaborations with brands like Graza and Magnolia Bakery.

Deals 💰

Mergers & Acquisitions 

  • Hims & Hers (NYSE: HIMS), the telehealth company that’s now worth more than $15B, just acquired New Jersey-based Trybe Labs. The acquisition will enable Hims & Hers to offer at-home blood testing and more comprehensive whole body testing. CNBC

  • Huda Beauty officially divested its fast-growing fragrance brand, KAYALI. The buyers are General Atlantic and Mona Kattan, the co-founder of Huda Beauty. General Atlantic will own 57% of KAYALI while Mona Kattan will own the remainder. Reuters

  • Kontoor Brands (NYSE: KTB), the owner of Wrangler and Lee, is acquiring iconic outerwear brand Helly Hansen for around $900M. The seller is Canadian Tire Corporation. KTB expects Helly Hansen to generate more than $680M of revenue and $80M of adjusted EBITDA in 2025. Business Wire

Fundraising

  • Brother’s Bond Bourbon, a Fort Worth-based whiskey brand, raised $7.5M in funding from undisclosed investors. Actors Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley launched Brother’s Bond in 2020. The company will use the funding to expand its footprint in the U.S. and in key international markets. PR Newswire

  • Belfast-based Titanic Distillers secured around $6.3M in equity funding from Whiterock Finance. The funding will be used to expand its leadership team and grow its retail and on-premise distribution. The Spirits Business

  • South Korean fragrance brand Borntostandout raised an undisclosed amount of Series A funding in a round led by Touch Capital. L’Oreal also invested in the brand via their corporate venture arm. Borntostandout launched in 2022 and is based in Seoul. Global Cosmetics News

  • AHLEM, the luxury eyewear brand founded by French designer Ahlem Manai-Platt, secured an undisclosed amount of funding from 1686 Partners, a fund launched in 2023 by David Wertheimer. Wertheimer is an heir to the Chanel fortune. WWD

  • 80 Acres Farms, an Ohio-based vertical farming startup, raised $115M in fresh funding. Investors include General Atlantic, Siemens Financial Services, and Barclays Climate Ventures. The company also announced the acquisition of Plantae Bioscience, an Israeli producer of nutritionally-enhanced plants. FoodBev

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What’s New 🤩

Apparel, Cosmetics, and Wellness

  • Nike is teaming up with Kim Kardashian and SKIMS to launch a new apparel, footwear, and accessories collection that will debut in 2026. The co-branded collection is named NikeSKIMS. For Nike, the long-term partnership with SKIMS offers the opportunity to connect with more female consumers and to better compete with the likes of Lululemon and Alo Yoga. CNBC

  • Suave Brands, the personal care brand that Unilever sold to Yellow Wood Partners in 2023, just unveiled a whopping 34 new products. The updated packaging is an improvement too. Suave Brands also acquired ChapStick from Haleon in early 2024 for $510M. PR Newswire

  • Dr. Megan Rossi, the co-founder of gut-friendly breakfast brand Bio&Me, just launched a new probiotic supplement brand called Smart Strains. The company currently offers four SKUs which are available at Tesco and Amazon. The Grocer

  • Celebrity fitness trainer Isaac Boots has joined Cowboy Colostrum as lead brand ambassador. WWD

  • Masstige haircare brand Odele launched its new thickening collection with four SKUs. Instagram

Food, Beverage, and Alcohol

  • OLIPOP has hired a new President in Mel Landis, a longtime beverage exec and an alum of Coca-Cola. Landis has been a strategic advisor to OLIPOP since 2023 and now joins the leadership team. Previously Landis served as Chief Customer Officer of BODYARMOR and the President of Coca-Cola’s North American Minute Maid division. BevNET

  • In other better-for-you soda news…Poppi just launched a new range of 7.5 oz cans at Walmart. The cans will only cost $1 so it’s a really clever way to drive trial at retail. Twitter

  • In other other better-for-you soda news…Coca-Cola just launched Simply Pop, their entrant in the gut-healthy soda category. The cans actually look pretty sleek. Simply Pop will hit shelves on the West Coast and in the Southeast toward the end of the month. CNBC

  • Ripi is a new player in the restaurant-quality frozen pasta category. The New York-based brand officially launched with three products: Beef Short Rib Ravioli, Sweet Potato Ravioli, and Chicken Parmesan Ravioli. Ian Tecklin is the founder. Ripi

  • UK-based hospitality group Mr Lyan partnered with two Sri Lankan firms to launch Three Families, a new cocktail bitters brand. Three Families combines traditional cocktail bitters with popular South Asian flavors like calamansi and tamarind. The packaging is terrific IMO 👇 The Spirits Business

  • Premium condiments brand TRUFF named Esi Seng as its next CEO. Prior to joining TRUFF, Esi Seng served as the CEO of both Tate’s Cookies and Tom’s of Maine. Very strong hire to lead TRUFF’s next phase of growth. PR Newswire

  • Huntington Beach-based Fermensch Kombucha unveiled its latest flavor, Grapefruit Rosemary. Instagram 

  • Rapper Megan Thee Stallion is entering the celebrity tequila race with Chicas Divertidas, a new premium tequila brand. The company launched with Blanco and Reposado varieties. PR Newswire

Data 🖥️

  • DayDayCook — the owner of Nona Lim, Yai’s Thai, Omsom, and a number of other Asian food brands — expects to finish 2025 with revenue between $34M and $40M. Business Wire

Distribution News 🚚