L'Oreal Makes K-Beauty Bet, Tosi Snacks Grabs Funding 🍫

Happy 2025 and welcome back to This Week in CPG, folks! We’re only four days into the new year but based on all the new brands, products, and M&A thus far, 2025 is going to be a fruitful year for the CPG ecosystem.

Let’s dive into the newsletter:

• Harpoon Brewery merges 🍻

• Once Upon a Coconut raises 🥥

• Jaimee Lupton launches DAISE 🌸

• Protein mania 💪

• David heads to The Vitamin Shoppe 📈

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Deals 💰

Mergers & Acquisitions 

• L’Oreal is doubling down on Korean beauty by acquiring Dr. G, one of the largest mass market skincare brands in South Korea. Dermatologist Dr. Gun Young Ahn launched the Seoul-based brand in 2003 and sold it to Swiss retailer Migros in 2018. L’Oreal acquired another K-Beauty brand, 3CE, in May of 2018. Cosmetics Business

• The parent companies of Harpoon Brewery and Smuttynose Brewing are merging to form Barrel One Collective. The combined company will own 14 craft beer brands and will be the 14th largest craft brewer in the U.S. Just Drinks

• Unilever’s India division is reportedly in talks to acquire DTC skincare brand Minimalist for around $350M. Minimalist is based in Jaipur and generated just over $40M in revenue last fiscal year. Unilever has been busy in India lately. Recent investments in the country include What’s Up Wellness, OZiva, Wellbeing Nutrition, and SkinInspired. TechCrunch

Fundraising

• Tosi Snacks, an Anaheim-based purveyor of organic snack bars and bites, raised over $15M in Series B funding from existing investor Cambridge SPG. Cambridge is also an investor in Once Upon a Farm, Fourth & Heart, The Coconut Cult, and a number of other brands. NOSH

• ZeroCarb LYFE, an Indiana-based producer of high-protein pizza crusts and snacks, raised $200K in debt financing. Their frozen pizzas contain 33g of protein which is wild. SEC

• Once Upon a Coconut revised a securities filing to reflect $4.7M in equity funding from undisclosed investors. The premium coconut water brand had a big 2024. They launched at H-E-B, Sprouts, Whole Foods Market, and QuickChek. SEC

What’s New 🤩

Apparel, Cosmetics, and Wellness

• Fitness entrepreneur Amanda Kloots has partnered with The Center to launch Proper, a new line of superfood drink mixes. Proper will debut on Tuesday, January 7th with five SKUs that combat common ailments like bloating and lethargy. The Center is the beauty incubator behind Naturium which was acquired for $355M in 2023. WWD

• Jaimee Lupton, the co-founder of MONDAY Haircare, has teamed up with ZURU Edge to launch DAISE Beauty, a new fragrance and bodycare brand that’s available exclusively at Ulta Beauty. The packaging is playful and kinda brilliant 👇 LinkedIn

• Women’s wellness brand Arrae is tapping into the creatine craze with their newest product — Arrae Tone. The product helps build lean muscle with 5g of creatine monohydrate and two other active ingredients that I’m too blind to read. Tone launches on January 16th. Instagram

• Jo Malone London plans on opening a dozen new stores across the UK over the next 18 months. Jo Malone, owned by Estee Lauder since 1999, is the sixth largest fragrance brand by market share. Financial Times

Food, Beverage, and Alcohol

• Protein continues to be the name of the game for food & beverage brands:

1. Magic Spoon launched a protein granola line with three flavors: Mixed Berry, Honey Almond, and Peanut Butter. Each serving contains 13-14g of protein and 7-8g of fiber. Magic Spoon

2. Koia launched their new Koia Elite range which contains a whopping 32g of protein, 6g of fiber, and only 4g sugar. These products are also free of seed oils so pretty in tune with the zeitgeist. Koia 

3. Daily Harvest introduced a new range of protein smoothies that contain 20g of protein. The new line is available via their website and will hit shelves at Kroger later this month. PR Newswire

4. Nestlé launched yet another protein shot. Each 4.2 oz shot contains 10g of protein, 45 calories, and 1g of sugar. Twitter

• Minus Coffee, a San Francisco-based purveyor of sustainable coffee alternatives, unveiled their latest product — Minus Instant Beanless Oat Latte. Each serving contains only 50mg of caffeine and 6g of protein. The packaging is pretty compelling. LinkedIn

• Hint Water quietly launched a new canned sparkling water line. I only learned about this by stumbling upon them at Gelson’s. Twitter

• Non-alc spirits brand The Pathfinder is expanding into RTDs in the very near future. Instagram

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Data 🖥️

• Cafe Bustelo has become a strong performer for J.M. Smucker. Since acquiring the brand in 2011, Smucker has grown the brand more than 4x and finished the fiscal year with north of $350M in net sales. Twitter

Distribution News 🚚

• David launched storewide at The Vitamin Shoppe.

• Seven Sundays launched at select Target stores.

• BFY soda brand Spade launched nationwide at Sprouts.

• MOSH launched at 100+ Ralphs stores.

• B.T.R. Nation rolled out at Harmons in Utah.