Fable Backs EADEM, L'Occitane Sells Grown Alchemist 🧪

Author

CPG WIRE
April 04, 2024

GM and Happy Thursday, folks. Here’s what we’re covering this morning:

  • ABG agrees to buy Champion 🎽

  • Slate scoops up Frontman 💰

  • Serena launches beauty brand 💄

  • GHOST x General Mills 👻

  • Ultra Violette x Sephora Canada 🇨🇦

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Fable Backs EADEM 📈

Fable Investments, the corporate venture arm of global beauty firm Natura & Co, has invested in EADEM, a beauty brand that’s focused on skincare solutions for women of color. Terms of the investment weren’t disclosed, but Fable typically invests €2-10M in emerging beauty brands. 

Founded in 2021 by Marie Kouadio Amouzame and Alice Lin Glover, EADEM produces clean, cruelty-free, and clinically-proven skincare products that solve common problems like acne scars, hyperpigmentation, dullness, and dryness. Their debut product was the Milk Marvel Dark Spot Serum, and their newest products include Cashmere Peel and Cloud Cushion. 

EADEM retails exclusively at Sephora and via their website.  

Natura &Co has been busy lately. Last year, they sold Aesop to L’Oreal for over $2.5B, then they divested The Body Shop for $254M. Via their corporate venture arm, Natura &Co backed Perfumer H, an experimental fragrance brand from London, and Maude, a sexual wellness brand from Brooklyn. 

More on the fundraise here.

L'Occitane Sells Grown Alchemist 🧪 

In a surprise move, L’Occitane Group announced that it’s selling Australian skincare brand Grown Alchemist for around $30M. The buyer is Andre Hoffmann who happens to be the former CEO of L’Occitane Group as well as a current board member. Anna Teal, the current CEO of Grown Alchemist, will remain a minority shareholder. 

Grown Alchemist was founded in Melbourne in 2008 and built a cult following via its premium branding, clean label formulations, and holistic approach to skin, hair, and body care. L’Occitane Group acquired a majority stake in the brand in 2022 in what sounded like a distressed acquisition. L’Occitane reportedly only paid €5M for 49% of Grown Alchemist. 

L’Occitane Group is selling Grown Alchemist in order to focus on other brands in its portfolio like Sol de Janeiro, ELEMIS, Dr. Vranjes Firenze, and its namesake brand.

More on the divestment here.

Deals 💰

Mergers & Acquisitions 

  • Monogram Capital Partners acquired a majority stake in Tru Fragrance & Beauty, the owner of fragrance brands Le Monde Gourmand and Lake & Skye. Tru also owns fragrance licenses for Wrangler and Yellowstone. Monogram’s other beauty investments include D.S. & Durga, Live Tinted, Violette_FR, and Beach House Group. PR Newswire

  • Authentic Brands Group (ABG) is buying athletic apparel brand Champion for just over $1B. The seller is HanesBrands who desperately needs the cash to pay down debt (they currently have net debt of $3.1B which is 5.2x adjusted EDITDA). WWD

  • Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz acquired a 2% stake in Tony’s Chocolonely. The Dutch chocolate brand hopes to benefit from Schultz’s considerable experience building global brands. In 2023, revenue at Tony’s Chocolonely jumped 23% to $162M. Food Dive

  • Slate Brands, a digitally native beauty brand incubator, purchased men’s acne care brand Frontman for an undisclosed sum. Frontman was founded in 2018 by Annelise Hillmann and Nick Bunn. Slate owns a number of other beauty brands like Insanely Clean, EvoLove, and Second Self. Beauty Independent 

Fundraising

  • Sparxell, a UK-based startup that’s creating sustainable pigments and colorants, raised $3.2M in funding. Investors include Circular Innovation Fund along with Joyance Partners and PDS Ventures. Business Wire

What’s New 🤩

Apparel, Cosmetics, and Wellness

  • Canadian beauty firm ATTITUDE launched an eco-friendly suncare brand called Sunly. Sunly’s products are solid, 100% plastic-free, and EWG Verified. The packaging looks pretty great too. PR Newswire

  • Tennis superstar Serena Williams launched an inclusive makeup brand called Wyn Beauty. Interestingly, the beauty brand is a joint venture with India’s Good Glamm Group and will be available exclusively at Ulta Beauty on April 7th. Business of Fashion

  • Rita Ora has partnered with beauty entrepreneur Anna Lahey to launch a high-performance haircare brand called TYPEBEA. Per an Instagram post, TYPEBEA will be launching soon. The Industry

  • Skincare brand Dr. Idriss introduced a new daily cleanser called Soft Wash. Dr. Idriss

Food, Beverage, and Alcohol

  • GHOST is working with General Mills to launch a line of high protein cereals. The new line will be available online on 4/10 and will hit national grocery chains on 4/17. They did a brilliant job with the packaging. Twitter

  • JuneShine launched another great-looking canned cocktail — Grapefruit Tequila Paloma. They’ve been on a heater lately. Desert Cooler was a beauty and so was their Espresso Martini. Instagram

  • London-based brandy producer Burnt Faith released a limited-edition brandy that’s finished in bourbon barrels. The Spirits Business

  • Pop-Tarts (owned by Kellanova) is breaking into the snack category with Pop-Tarts Crunchy Poppers. They honestly look pretty delicious. PR Newswire

  • PRIME has added another professional sports team to its already impressive roster. It’s now the official sports drink of the Toronto Raptors. Instagram

Data 🖥️

  • Sports drink volume continues to dip precipitously. Gatorade volume was down 10.3% for the four weeks ending on March 9th, while Powerade and BodyAmor volume dipped 9.7%. Twitter

Distribution News 🚚