KDP Bets on Drink Mixes, Nestle Reviews VMS Portfolio 💊

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

• Sugar Capital raises $75M 💰

• Uni secures funding from L’Oreal ♻️

• Rémy Cointreau backs JNPR Spirits 🍸

• Ritual enlists Serena Williams 👀

• Evergreen goes storewide at Kroger 🧇

Deals 💰

Mergers & Acquisitions 

• Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP) has purchased the remainder of Dyla Brands, a producer of drink mixes and beverage enhancers. Founded in 2012 and based in New York, Dyla Brands sells more than 1.5B drink mixes per year and owns STUR, the #1 natural water enhancer brand. The company also produces drink mixes for brands like Crush, Hawaiian Punch, Snapple, and others. The acquisition provides KDP with a turn-key platform to capitalize on the growing demand for functional, on-the-go drink mixes and beverage enhancers. KDP originally invested in Dyla Brands in 2017. KDP

• Nestle is reviewing its VMS portfolio and will likely sell off a handful of value brands like Nature’s Bounty, Puritan’s Pride, Osteo Bi-Flex, and others. Nestle originally acquired these brands as part of its $5.75B deal for The Bountiful Company in 2021. Premium brands like Vital Proteins, Orgain, and Nuun will be retained. WSJ

• Pernod Ricard is divesting Knappogue Castle and Clontarf, two brands from its Irish whiskey division. The buyer is Dublin-based Cobblestone Brands. Pernod also divested Imperial Blue, an Indian whisky brand, for around $485M. Global Drinks Intel

Fundraising

• Sugar Capital, a seed stage investor in consumer brands and commerce tech startups, is closing on $75M for its third fund. Founded in 2020, Sugar Capital is an investor in Brightland, Grüns, Feastables, Jupiter, Lucky Energy, Snif, and Starface. The firm plans to add 25 companies to its portfolio. Beauty Independent

• Sustainable personal care brand Uni secured an undisclosed amount of funding from L’Oreal, Break Trail Ventures, Mazdack Rassi, and Adwoa Aboah. Founded in 2022 by Alexandra Keating, Uni will debut at 800 Ulta Beauty stores in the coming days. Business of Fashion

• JNPR Spirits, a French producer of non-alcoholic spirits, secured an undisclosed amount of funding from the venture arm of Rémy Cointreau. Founded in 2020 by Valérie de Sutter, JNPR will use the funding and leverage Rémy’s vast distribution network to scale their retail presence. The Spirits Business

• Win-Win, a London-based producer of sustainable chocolate alternatives, raised £3M in Series A funding from Oetker Collection and FoodLabs. Win-Win also announced a major distribution deal with Martin Braun-Gruppe, a German bakery and confectionery supplier. Vegconomist

• English singer Ella Eyre just invested in INTUNE, a CBD soda brand from London. Hannah Glasson launched the beverage brand in 2020. The Grocer

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What’s New 🤩

Apparel, Cosmetics, and Wellness

• Body of Work is a clean VMS brand focused on the health needs of women between the ages of 18 and 25. The brand launched on Thursday and their debut product is a multivitamin that contains third-party tested active ingredients like biotin, decaffeinated green tea, vitamin A, and vitamin C. Body of Work was founded by Jacqueline Maslan, formerly of Vytalogy, and Alexandra Brown, formerly of Vital Proteins. Body of Work

• Women’s wellness brand Ritual just added tennis superstar Serena Williams as the brand’s first Women’s Health Advisor. Williams will work with Ritual behind the scenes to develop, test, and advise on new products. In 2024, Ritual’s sales topped $250M. Glossy

• K18, the haircare brand that Unilever scooped up in late 2023, launched a new heat protection product called HeatBounce. HeatBounce is formulated with ResiliCore, a patented technology that penetrates strands and protects hair from heat damage. PR Newswire

• Promix Nutrition is releasing a high-quality fish oil supplement that’s made with wild Alaskan salmon and cod liver oil. The new product will launch on July 28th. Instagram

Food, Beverage, and Alcohol

• Hot Girl Dairy is a new high-protein ice cream brand made with grass-fed milk. Each serving contains 40g of protein and it looks like two flavors are available: Vanilla Cookie Dough and Chocolate Brownie. The texture looks out of this world. Instagram

• No Cap! Soda Pop partnered with candy maker Albanese on two new flavors: Grape Gummi Bears and Gummi Peach Rings. The new flavors will be released in August. No Cap has been on a roll lately. Instagram

• We’re finally getting a high-protein version of Pocky. Pon Pon Snacks is launching a line of enrobed biscuits that contain 9g of protein and 16g of fiber. Two flavors will be available: Matcha Latte and Strawberry Milk. Pon Pon will launch later this year. Stack3d

• Coca-Cola plans on launching a cane sugar cola product in the U.S. later this year. Coca-Cola has largely relied on high-fructose corn syrup to sweeten its U.S. products since the 80s but a cane sugar version will be released in the fall. CNBC

• THC beverage brand Flyers Cocktail Company released a 10mg version of its House Cocktails range. Three flavors are available. BevNET

Data 🖥️

• Philip Morris sold 190 million cans of ZYN in Q2. Analysts expected PMI to sell 203 million cans of ZYN so their share price suffered, dropping around 7%. PMI also raised its FY profit guidance. Reuters

Distribution News 🚚

• Khloud Protein Popcorn launched at CIBO Express.

• B.T.R. Nation launched storewide at Lowes Foods.

• Evergreen is now available storewide at Kroger.

• Elavi launched at Whole Foods Market in four states.

• La Pulga Tequila is now available in Florida.