Best Day Brewing Lands $10M, Podium Heads to Target 🎯

CPG WIRE
March 23, 2024

GM and Happy Saturday, folks. Thursday & Friday were quietish news day but we have still some interesting items to cover. Let’s dive in:

Deals 💰

Mergers & Acquisitions

S-Ventures PLC, a UK-based acquirer and operator of BFY food brands, is in talks to sell to Riverfort Global Opportunities. S-Ventures owns Purely Plantain Chips, Plant Punk, Pulsin, and others. Just Food

Fundraising

Best Day Brewing, a Sausalito-based producer of non-alcoholic beers, has secured $10M in equity funding from undisclosed investors. Best Day Brewing launched in 2021 and is eager to expand beyond the SF Bay Area. The company previously raised around $2.8M in 2022. Their packaging has always been great. SEC
New York-based fragrance brand Scent Lab closed a seed funding round. Investors include Joyance Partners and XRC Ventures. Scent Lab differentiates by offering personalized scents to consumers in the form of high-quality candles. The company launched in 2022. BeautyMatter
Leading baby & toddler essentials brand Lalo secured fresh equity funding from Forecast Labs, the consumer venture arm of Comcast. Last year Lalo raised $10.1M in Series A funding from Spin Master Ventures, 35 Ventures, and others. PR Newswire

It’s 2024. We’re not still wasting budgets sending the same message to our entire SMS list… right?

In this playbook learn how to start sending custom, data-backed SMS campaigns that don’t give your customers a reason to reply “STOP”.

Hear from DTC brands like Dime, UMZU, and Aviator Nation who are using Yotpo to:

It’s time to get personal. Stop wasting your SMS budget, and charm your customers like never before.

Apparel, Cosmetics, and Wellness

Beauty accelerator The Center has added CYKLAR to its brand portfolio. CYKLAR is a bodycare brand that was founded late last year by YouTuber Claudia Sulewski. The Center is the group behind Saltair, Phlur, and MAKE Beauty. They also sold Naturium to e.l.f. Beauty for $355M last year. PR Newswire
South Korean skincare brand innisfree officially announced its brand refresh and that they doubled distribution at Sephora in the United States. PR Newswire
Snif is releasing a new fragrance with NYT bestselling author Alex Elle on March 28th. The new scent is called Heal the Way by Alex Elle. Instagram

Food, Beverage, and Alcohol

Sunbear, a sparkling coconut water brand, launched its online store earlier this month. Two things: a) very curious about the taste/texture and b) love the packaging 👇 Sunbear

Sunnyside, an alcoholic ginger beer brand, debuted in the UK with two flavors. Boozy ginger beer sounds delicious. The Spirits Business
Diageo is testing out aluminum bottles for its Baileys brand in select channels. Per the company, aluminum bottles are 5x lighter than standard glass ones so carbon emissions are reduced considerably. Just Drinks
Noosa Yoghurt (owned by Sovos Brands) released a line of dessert-inspired yogurts to compete with Chobani Creations. Instagram
Singer Bebe Rexha launched a sparkling Cava brand called PROVOCATIVO which is available at select retailers and online in 44 states. PR Newswire

Lululemon had an impressive 2023. Net revenue jumped 19% to $9.6B while gross margin increased 290 bps to 58.3%. They also opened 56 net new company-operated stores, ending the year with 711. Business Wire

Podium Nutrition is launching at Target on 3/31.
Brooklyn Best is now available at all Just Salad locations in Florida, New York, and Chicago.
Creatine gummies brand Create launched at GNC.
De La Calle is now available at Vons and Albertsons in CA.
OLIPOP teased its upcoming launch at Wawa.
Vacation launched at Bloomingdale’s.