H&M Backs Kintra Fibers 🧵

Author

CPG WIRE
April 11, 2023

GM and Happy Tuesday. I collaborated with the good folks at Dwight Funding on a Q1 Trends Report & Fundraising Index. If you’re interested, you can find that here.

Yesterday was an uncharacteristically slow news day, but we still have some exciting headlines to dive into:

  • H&M backs Kintra Fibers 🧵

  • Something new from Feastables 🍫

  • Last Crumb gets into gluten free 🍪

  • OLIPOP quietly drops a new flavor 🍉

  • HOP WTR heads to Wegmans 🍺

Kintra Fibers x H&M đź“°

Kintra Fibers, the New York-based materials science startup that produces a more sustainable polyester alternative for the apparel industry, secured $8m in Series A funding. Per WWD, the round was led by H&M Group Ventures, the venture arm of the world’s second largest fashion retailer, H&M. Additional investors include Fashion for Good, New York Ventures, Fab Ventures, and Tech Council Ventures. A number of female angel investors like Cami Tellez, the founder of Parade, also participated.

Founded in 2018 by Billy McCall and Alissa Sandra Baier-Lentz, Kintra created their bio-based, renewable polyester alternative by removing all fossil fuel inputs at the molecular level, and replacing them with corn. The result is a material that has a similar strength to fossil fuel-based polyesters, but with a 95% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

What makes Kintra so appealing to its impressive set of pilot customers — H&M, Pangaia, Reformation, and fast fashion giant Inditex, the owner of Zara — is that their polyester alternative works on existing industry equipment. In short, apparel manufacturers don’t have to reinvent their production processes in order to make more sustainable textiles, they simply need to plug in a new material.

Kintra certainly has a long road to commercial viability — thus far they’ve only produced 250 kilograms of material on their pilot line — but they’re using a portion of their Series A proceeds to move to a commercial facility.

Seeing as 54% of textiles are fossil fuel-based, the opportunity that Kintra is chasing is enormous.

Deals đź’°

Mergers & Acquisitions 

  • Kevin Murphy Group, an Australia professional haircare firm, acquired Showpony, a producer of premium, ethically-sourced hair extensions and accessories. BeautyMatter

  • Colavita, a producer of Italian pantry staples and a leading olive oil brand, acquired O Olive Oil & Vinegar from Curation Foods. PR Newswire

Fundraising

  • GaeaStar, a Berlin-based startup that produces zero waste disposable clay cups, raised $6.5m in seed funding from Morningside, DART Labs, and others. TechCrunch

  • Little Farms, a Singapore-based organic grocery store with ten locations, raised $1.5m in funding. Heliconia Capital, a wholly owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings, led the round. DealStreetAsia

What’s New 🤩

Apparel, Cosmetics, and Wellness

  • Popular haircare brand K18 is partnering with HelloBiome to study the scalp microbiome. Together the two companies will create scalp care products & services. Beauty Independent

  • British beauty & personal care retailer Space NK is opening their first Liverpool store in June. Cosmetics Business

  • Maison Kitsune, a French-Japanese clothing & lifestyle brand, launched a very fun golf collection exclusively in South Korea. Instagram

  • Luxury eyewear brand Garrett Leight launched California Editions, a limited edition, small run eyewear collection that’s produced in Oakland, CA. Garrett Leight

Food, Beverage, and Alcohol

  • Feastables, one of the fastest growing candy brands in the United States, launched a new product — Karl Gummies. Feastables

  • Flavored sparkling water brand Sparkling Ice is expanding into the energy drink category. They’re testing 16 oz energy drinks in Northern CA and 12 oz in the Midwest. Whichever performs better will determine which gets a national rollout. Twitter

  • Last Crumb — the “luxury” cookie brand that sells a box of 12 cookies for a whopping $140 — launched a gluten free cookie collection. Last Crumb

  • Non-alcoholic aperitif brand Ghia teased an exciting new product on IG. Unsurprisingly, the bottle appears to be a beautiful one. Instagram

  • Food & bev giant PepsiCo is looking for Hispanic-owned brands to participate in its Greenhouse Accelerator Program: Juntos Crecemos Edition. PepsiCo will select ten high-potential Hispanic-owned food & beverage brands to join the accelerator. PR Newswire

  • Iconic licorice brand Red Vines launched a pretty revolting new product — Buttered Popcorn Licorice…Instagram

  • Apparently Olipop has a new flavor — Watermelon Lime. Need this immediately. Twitter

  • A very good-looking pineapple-infused gin brand designed by Appartement 103, a French branding agency. Packaging of the World

Data 🖥️

  • Thom Browne has been growing fast since Zegna Group acquired the brand for $500m in 2018. In 2020 Thom Browne posted revenue of $179m, and last year posted $330m. Twitter

Distribution News đźšš

  • Better-for-you confectionery brand Simply launched their Fruit Bites at Walmart.

  • Undercover Snacks launched at Walmart.

  • HOP WATR is now available at Wegmans.

  • Friday Collective, the new fragrance brand from Newell Brands, launched their core collection and three exclusive scents at Target.