Kirin Makes Another Acquisition, Renais Gin Lands $2.3M 🍸

CPG WIRE
June 15, 2024

GM and Happy Saturday, folks. Here’s what we’re getting into today:

Deals 💰

Mergers & Acquisitions

Japanese beverage giant Kirin is acquiring the remainder of Fancl — a Japanese manufacturer of cosmetics and supplements — for $1.4B. Kirin is actively diversifying away from beer. Last year, they shelled out $1.2B to acquire Australian vitamins brand Blackmores. WSJ
Newport Craft Distilling has acquired KEEL Vodka, a premium light vodka brand that’s also based in Rhode Island. KEEL is 23.8% ABV while brands like Tito’s and SVEDKA are 40%. PR Newswire

Fundraising

Renais Gin, the luxury gin brand co-founded by Emma Watson, raised $2.3M in equity funding from undisclosed investors. Renais is based in London and they launched in the U.S. earlier this year via RNDC. SEC
Common, a UK-based functional beverage brand, closed a six-figure funding round. The round was led by James Watt, the co-founder and former CEO of BrewDog, who also invested in Living Things earlier this week. The Drinks Business
Per Axios, InvestBev is raising $150M for its fifth fund. Thus far the firm has backed Cann, JuneShine, Siempre Tequila, Ten To One Rum, and a handful of other bev alc brands. Axios

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Apparel, Cosmetics, and Wellness

The founding CEO of Unilever Prestige, Vasiliki Petrou, is stepping down to launch her own investment fund. Unilever Prestige posted 13 consecutive quarters of growth and is home to brands like Dermalogica, K18, Paula’s Choice, Tatcha, and Hourglass. Business of Fashion
Briogeo, the clean haircare brand that Wella Company acquired two years ago, is expanding into the hair styling category with four new products. The new line will be available at Ulta Beauty and Sephora. Glossy
Per an email to customers, personalized vitamin brand Care/of is shutting down on June 17th. German pharma giant Bayer acquired a 70% stake in Care/of at a valuation of $225M in 2020. Twitter
Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop expands deeper into makeup with their new mascara line. WWD

Food, Beverage, and Alcohol

Liquid Death reformulated their Death Dust line and dialed up the flavor intensity. The line is still available exclusively via Amazon. Instagram
Hulk Hogan is getting into the celebrity beer game with Real American Beer, a very on-brand lager. Joining Hogan is Terri Francis who previously worked at AB InBev’s innovation arm, ZX Ventures. Brewbound
DAVIDsTEA, a Canadian purveyor of various tea products, launched a range of cold brewed sparkling iced teas. This is their first-ever RTD product. It looks pretty good IMO. Instagram
Hooters just launched a line of frozen appetizers and snacks. The four products are available exclusively at Publix. Business Wire
Mondelez and Lotus Bakeries are joining forces to co-develop a number of new products in the cookie and chocolate categories. Food Dive
Top of the Mornin’ Coffee launched a French Toast Flavored Coffee. Their packaging is always fantastic. Instagram
Bay Area-based cultivated meat startup SCiFi Foods is sadly shutting down. The company launched in 2019 and raised $40M. AgFunder

Clean beauty brand MERIT is profitable and expects to hit $100M in sales this year. Business of Fashion

Vista Hermosa’s tortillas are now available nationwide at Whole Foods Market.
Mid-Day Squares is launching at Starbucks in Canada.
London-based Burnt Faith Brandy is launching at Tesco.
Verb Energy launched at Earth Fare.