J.M. Smucker's $1.2B Deal 🐶

GM and Happy Saturday, folks. In lieu of The Big Story, we’re excited to announce the beta launch of CPG Wire, an online news aggregator for the CPG industry. In short, CPG Wire curates all the important headlines across food, beverage, alcohol, cosmetics, and wellness. It’s similar to this newsletter except updated in real time. Also I recommend using CPG Wire in a web browser vs. mobile.

If you enjoy staying up to date on the latest industry news, please bookmark us. The website will be updated several times per day.

Right now it’s a minimum viable product, but the long term goal is to become the first website that CPG professionals visit every morning.

If you have any feedback on the product, you can find me at [email protected]. Good or bad, I would love to hear from you.

Now, here’s what we’re covering this morning:

• J.M. Smucker ditches pet food 🐶

• Wolverine Worldwide sheds Keds 👟

• Kainos Capital raises $1B 💰

• Two celebs back brands ⭐️

• Totino’s x Cinnamon Toast Crunch 🙃

Deals 💰

Mergers & Acquisitions 

• J.M. Smucker is selling several pet food brands to Post Holdings for $1.2B, consisting of $700m in cash and the remainder in common stock. Brands include in the transaction: Nature’s Recipe, Kibbles ‘n Bits, 9Lives, and a handful of others. PR Newswire

• Plant-based beverage brand Koia purchased a production facility in Anaheim, CA. In an ever crowded marketplace, controlling one’s manufacturing is a desirable moat. It can be a double-edged sword though — Oatly recently abdicated manufacturing to focus on its strengths, sales and marketing. BevNET

• Footwear manufacturer Wolverine Worldwide sold Keds to Designer Brands, the owner of DSW. Additionally, Designer Brands acquired the license for Hush Puppies footwear in the U.S. and Canada. The two transactions will generate around $90m in cash for Wolverine. Business Wire

• Instead of selling or spinning off its plant-based meat division, Kellogg plans to keep it. Food Business News

• Europe Snacks, a French contract manufacturer of snacks, acquired 100% of UK-based Burts Snacks. Burts operates two manufacturing facilities in Plymouth and Leicester. Talking Retail

Fundraising

• Dallas-based private equity firm Kainos Capital secured $1B for Fund III. Their CPG investments include Whisps, BeautyBio, and good2grow. Business Wire

• UK-based skincare brand Faace raised around $200K on crowdfunding platform Seedrs. Cosmetics Business

• NFL star tight end Travis Kelce invested in RTD tequila soda brand Casa Azul Spirits. Serial CPG entrepreneur Lance Collins launched Casa Azul last August. PR Newswire

• Upcycled dried fruit company The Ugly Company raised $9m in Series A funding. Good-looking products. Investors include Sun Valley Packing, Justin Timberlake, Value Creation Strategies, and Valley Ag Capital Holdings. GlobeNewswire

• Actress Halle Berry invested in probiotic wellness company Pendulum Therapeutics. Berry was also named Chief Communications Officer. Business Wire

• Australian alt protein startup Fable Meat Co. raised $8.5m in Series A funding. The company will use the cash to accelerate R&D on its mushroom-based meat alternative. K3 Ventures, Bytedance, and Grab led the round. FinSMEs

What’s New 🤩

Cosmetics & Wellness

• The inimitable Jennifer Coolidge is the new face of e.l.f. cosmetics. The brand will be dropping its first-ever commercial during the Super Bowl on Sunday. Business Wire

• Sol de Janeiro pop ups in New York & LA. WWD

• Lila Moss, the daughter of supermodel Kate Moss, is the latest brand ambassador for Yves Saint Laurent Beauty. WWD

• I Am Proud, the vegan skincare brand founded by Charlotte Knight, expanded into haircare. The Industry

• Mielle Organics, the black-owned haircare brand that P&G acquired last month, introduced a new Avocado & Tamanu Anti-Frizz System for textured hair. Happi

• UK-based wellness brand Wype launched Viva La V, an intimate hygiene gel. Global Cosmetics News

• An Australian luxury skincare brand for dogs — DOG by Dr Lisa —launched in the US. The packaging honestly looks great. The DOG Leave in Conditioner will take you back $42. PR Newswire

Food, Beverage, and Alcohol

• UK-based grocery chain Sainsbury’s announced the three black-owned brands that participated in its Thrive with Sainsbury’s incubator: Mirror Margarita, RIDDLES Tequila Ice Tea, and RAISE Snacks. Love RAISE’s packaging. Sainsbury’s 

• Dear lord…Cinnamon Toast Crunch x Totino’s collaboration. Twitter

• The talented folks at Chamberlain Coffee launched a cute new tumbler. Chamberlain Coffee

• Tim Horton’s and Post Holdings collaborated on an Apple Fritter Cereal. Baking Business

• Bobo’s unveiled another new product line: Dipp’d Bars. Three weeks ago Bobo’s launched a new protein bar as well. PRWeb

• Six food tech startups redefining our favorite foods for the better. Tech.eu

Data 🖥️

• In 2022 Kiwi mixers brand East Imperial increased revenue by 15.5% to $3.8m. The Drinks Business

• Some crazy energy drink data from Beverage Insights. Celsius volume up 127%, C4 volume up 73.5%, and Ghost Energy volume up a whopping 937%. Meanwhile Bang energy volume slipped -46.5%. Twitter

• Mushroom wellness brand Space Goods generated over $1.8m in revenue in its first nine months. Vegconomist

• Scotch whisky exports exceeded $7B for the first time last year. The Spirits Business

Distribution News 🚚

• British cosmetics brand Revolution Beauty will launch at Walmart.

• Canned tequila soda brand Casa Azul launched at Total Wine & More in CA, FL, MD, TX, and VA.

• Whole-cut plant-based meat brand Juicy Marbles now available at Waitrose.

• Refillable deodorant brand Fussy is launching nationwide at Tesco.

Don’t forget to check out our new website: CPG Wire!!!