Flings Closes $2.3M Seed Round 🍓

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CPG WIRE
April 26, 2025

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

  • Fort Point and HenHouse merge 🍻

  • Olyra grabs another $5M in funding 🍪

  • Drake unveils first fragrance đź‘€

  • Seven Sundays launches new line 🥣

  • BEZI lands at Bi-Rite & Berkeley Bowl 🔥

My buddy Ben Zises is in the midst of raising his next venture fund. Ben is a force in early stage investing and has backed brands like Caraway, Create, Bandit Running, Brightland, Feel Goods, EIGHT Brewing, and many others. If you’re interested in partnering with Ben or possibly investing in his next fund, you can find more information here.

Flings Closes $2.3M Seed Round 🍓

Flings, a better-for-you toaster pastries brand, raised $2.3M in seed funding from a number of angel investors. The company, founded by childhood friends Ben Outmezguine and Dino Vassiliou, launched in 2023 and secured distribution at Target in early 2024.

I caught up with Ben on Friday morning to learn more about Flings and see how things were going:

RC) You just secured $2.3M in funding from a variety of angel investors. Did you pitch any institutional investors or were you only focused on angels?

BO) So I think one of our major strengths is that we have incredible investors and they have a deep network of other good investors. So, we didn't really go down the institutional route. We were pretty lucky to just be connected to the right people.

RC) Flings nailed branding right out of the gate. In my view you’re like Pop-Tarts meets Poppi. What’s the story behind the name and branding? 

BO) So the story behind Flings is we actually went camping once and we weren't prepared at all. We were 10 hours away from Montreal and had zero food so we stopped at a gas station and picked up a bunch of Pop-Tarts for the first time in years.

And as we're eating the Pop-Tarts, we're like, "Why don't we make this better?” It's such an iconic American snack. That's when we knew we had something pretty unique because it wasn't widely available in the market.

We knew from the start that we needed excellent branding for the execution to work and we approached Blur who's been our graphic design team since day one. Blur worked with an agency called Jingleheimer to come up with the name Flings. 

Branding was something we wanted to nail from the start. For us, it was one of our key conditions for launching Flings.

RC) It took Flings a little time to nail the product and you reformulated earlier this year. What key changes did you make to the product? 

BO) We had some trouble with the first recipes because it's so hard to make this kind of product. First, we ditched sugar alcohols and embraced honey. Honey means more sugar but overall a much better product. We also ditched seed oils and completely reinvented the icing.

The reformulated product pushed higher velocities in retail because people were more satisfied with the product.

RC) Did it take you awhile to find a co-packer? I feel like toaster pastries, especially better-for-you toaster pastries, are a pretty niche product to manufacture. 

BO) Yeah, it’s niche for sure. Most of the companies that produce toaster pastries are massive corporations so it did take a lot of time to find the right partner.

RC) Prior to launching Flings, you co-founded and sold an ice cream brand. Would you ever return to that category or were you happy to leave cold chain in the rearview mirror?

BO) We were really happy to leave cold chain…especially in Canada because it’s a very seasonal market. The long winter affects ice cream sales and it's also just a tiny market compared to the US. 

The reason we sold our last business was really to create a business in the U.S. that’s shelf stable so we could sell online and ship easily. 

More on the fundraise from NOSH here.

Deals đź’°

Mergers & Acquisitions 

  • San Francisco’s Fort Point Beer Company is merging with Sonoma’s HenHouse Brewing in order to better compete and mitigate various problems facing the craft beer industry. The new entity will be called Fort Point HenHouse. Eater SF

  • Commercial Bakeries, a Toronto-based manufacturer of specialty cookies & crackers, has acquired Hollandia Bakeries, a producer of soft-baked cookies. Hollandia was founded in 1954 and is capable of producing 1.5 million cookies per day. Commercial Bakeries is a portfolio company of private equity firm Graham Partners. Food Processing

Fundraising

  • Better-for-you snack brand Olyra raised another $5M in equity funding from undisclosed investors. The company, founded by Yannis Varellas in 2017, sells a variety of biscuits and soft baked bars that are made with Ancient Greek grains. Olyra last raised funding in 2023 when they secured $4M from Bimbo Ventures and other investors. Charles Coristine, the founder & CEO of LesserEvil Snacks, has been a board member since 2022. SEC

  • Fast-growing meat snacks brand Chomps secured a $100M revolving credit line from Wells Fargo. Later this year, Chomps will open a 300,000-square-foot manufacturing facility with Western Smokehouse Partners. Chomps has been on a heater with sales growing 292% year-over-year. GlobeNewswire

  • UK-based iced tea brand Harry Brompton’s received a ÂŁ2M growth investment from Traditum. The company will use the funding to expand its product range and grow its presence in retail channels. Traditum has made a handful of investments in the consumer and agriculture sectors. Insider Media

  • Chinese beauty brand First Cover added Cathay Consumer Co-Creation Fund to its cap table. The fund is a joint venture between a number of powerhouses including Cathay Capital, L’Oreal, Kering, and Pernod Ricard. Wang Yuying launched First Cover in late 2024. Jing Daily

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What’s New 🤩

Apparel, Cosmetics, and Wellness

  • Vacation is launching a very on-brand body mist range on May 6th. Three different sprays will be available which will retail for $24 each. The packaging is dated in the best way possible. Instagram

  • Personal care brand Dove partnered with Chamberlain Coffee on a plant milk body wash collection. I don’t know about this one…PR Newswire

  • Better World Fragrance House, the luxury fragrance brand founded by Drake, just released its debut product: Summer Mink. The fragrance is currently available via the brand’s website and will hit shelves at Ulta Beauty early next month. The packaging is pretty sleek and novel. PR Newswire

Food, Beverage, and Alcohol

  • Better-for-you cereal brand Seven Sundays launched a great-looking granola line. The granola contains 6g of protein per serving and is free of refined sugars. Two flavors are available: Peanut Butter Chocolate Banana and Triple Berry. The packaging is really terrific. Seven Sundays

  • Gutzy Organic just launched a new line of prebiotic plant protein smoothies. Each smoothie contains 7g of protein, 7-8g of fiber, and zero added sugar. The new line is available exclusively at Publix. Instagram

  • Primo Brands enlisted Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson to spread the word about Splash Refresher, Primo’s new sparkling water play. Four flavors are available: Kiwi Watermelon, Rocket Freeze, Blood Orange, and Black Cherry. PR Newswire

  • Bobbie just released its fourth product — Bobbie Organic Whole Milk Infant Formula — which the company claims is the first and only USDA organic whole milk infant formula that’s manufactured in the U.S. FoodBev

Data 🖥️

  • The Boston Beer Company had a strong start to 2025 with net revenue increasing 6.5% to over $453M. Net income also surged 93% to $24.4M. The company has zero debt and $152M in cash. Drinks Intel

  • Funding for U.S. creator-led startups is on the rise again. In Q1 2025, funding in the sector hit its highest level since late 2021. Twitter

Distribution News đźšš