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L Catterton Bets on Mass Beauty, Nguyen Launches at Target 🎯

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CPG WIRE
April 27, 2024

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

  • RTD cocktail M&A 💰

  • Wander + Ivy scores funding 🍷

  • Cove drops three new flavors 🫧

  • Hot start for Sprinter 🍸

  • Drunk Elephant x Sephora China 🇨🇳

Deals 💰

Mergers & Acquisitions 

  • L Catterton acquired a majority stake in KIKO Milano, an Italian mass beauty brand that was founded in 1997. The company operates more than 1,100 stores across 66 countries. In 2023, net revenue jumped 20% to 800M EUR. KIKO Milano is being valued around $1.5B and the founding Percassi family will retain a significant minority stake. PR Newswire

  • FX Matt Brewing is acquiring ‘Merican Mule, a Connecticut-based producer of canned cocktails. Known for its Moscow Mule cocktails, ‘Merican Mule is currently distributed in 18 states. BevNET

Fundraising

  • Wander + Ivy, a Denver-based purveyor of single-serve wines, raised around $1.65M in fresh equity funding from undisclosed investors. The company was founded in 2017 by Dana Spaulding, a sommelier and former finance professional. SEC

  • Reality star Craig Conover invested in Spritz Society, a popular RTD cocktail brand that launched in 2020. The Bravo to beverage entrepreneur/investor pipeline remains robust. Twitter

  • Edonia, a French startup that’s converting microalgae into a ground meat alternative, secured $2.1M in funding from Asterion Ventures and BPI. TechCrunch

What’s New 🤩

Apparel, Cosmetics, and Wellness

  • Anastasia Beverly Hills is betting on pop-ups. The beauty brand is hosting its first pop-up in New York over the weekend, then they’ll head to Berlin. WWD

  • Fenty Beauty is launching an improved version of its discontinued hydrating foundation. The product will be called Soft’Lit Naturally Luminous Longwear Foundation. Hypebae

  • South Korean eyewear brand Gentle Monster is releasing another collaboration with K-pop star Jennie of BLACKPINK. It’s a fun collection. Highsnobiety 

Food, Beverage, and Alcohol

  • Canadian beverage brand Cove expanded its gut-friendly soda lineup with three new flavors: Cherry, Grapefruit, and Raspberry. Great-looking cans. The brand expects to surpass $100M in sales this year. Twitter

  • One fun beverage brand that I recently encountered is Strange Water, a canned coconut water brand from Los Angeles. They offer both still and sparkling coconut water 👇 Strange Water

  • Brooklyn Brewery, Carlsberg, Guinness, and a number of other global brewers are joining forces to produce more beers with fonio, a West African grain that’s drought-resistant and can flourish in poor soil without fertilizers. Last year, Brooklyn Brewery collaborated with Yolele Foods to release a fonio-based beer called Fonio Rising. Beverage Daily

  • Congo Brands, the beverage juggernaut behind Alani Nu and PRIME, has named former Red Bull exec Mark Rappaport as its new Chief Commercial Officer. BevNET

  • Speaking of Congo Brands, PRIME is in hot water as a lawsuit alleges that its energy drinks contain PFAS, otherwise known as “forever chemicals.” It’s unclear how credible the lawsuit is, but it has done plenty of reputational damage on social media. Dexerto

  • Nootropic protein bar brand Mindright launched two new flavors — Peanut Butter Brownie and Chocolate Chip Crunch. Stack3d

  • UK-based Whitebox Cocktails released three new RTD products: Spicy Marg, Straight Up Daiquiri, and the Vieux Carre Cocktail. Instagram

Data 🖥️

  • Sprinter, the RTD vodka soda brand founded by Kylie Jenner, shipped an impressive 140,000 cases in its first month of business. For context, Casamigos was on pace to sell 170,000 cases in 2017 when Diageo bought it for $1B. To be clear, the unit economics of RTD cocktails and bottled spirits are very, very different. Twitter

  • Rémy Cointreau had a rough year with sales declining 19.2% in the period. The Spirits Business

Distribution News 🚚