L'Occitane Enlists Blackstone, El Rayo Tequila Scores Funding ⚡️

Welcome back to This Week in CPG! Thanks to everyone who joined us in Austin, TX last night for our CPG Shindig. We had about 70 founders, operators, and investors join us in Downtown Austin and it was an absolute blast:

Thank you to Lunar Solar Group, Superfiliate, Novel, and Prescient AI for making the event possible. More events to come!

Let’s dive into the newsletter:

• McCain buys Strong Roots 🍠

• KIKI World closes round 🌐

• Glossier Las Vegas 🎲

• Drybar team launches Squeeze ☁️

• MyMuse heads to Sprouts/Target 🎯

Deals 💰

Mergers & Acquisitions 

• L’Occitane Group, the global beauty firm that owns Sol de Janeiro, ELEMIS, Dr. Vranjes Firenze, and others, is working with Blackstone to secure debt financing to take the company private. L’Occitane chairman Reinold Geiger has long wanted to delist from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and he just might pull it off with a few billion from Blackstone. Bloomberg

• French fry giant McCain Foods has acquired Strong Roots, an Irish purveyor of frozen cauliflower hash browns, mixed root vegetable fries, and other products. McCain Foods acquired a minority interest in Strong Roots for $55M in 2021. Just Food

Fundraising

• KIKI World, a web3 beauty brand that lets users vote on products and product features, raised $7M in seed funding from New Incubation Ventures — which is the venture arm of Estee Lauder — along with a16z crypto, 2Punks Capital, and others. TechCrunch

• El Rayo Tequila, a London-based super premium tequila brand, raised around $1.7M from Rianta Capital, Anotherway Ventures, and Logan Plant. The company will use the funding to scale its retail and on-premise presence. Their branding is terrific 👇 The Spirits Business

What’s New 🤩

Apparel, Cosmetics, and Wellness

• It appears that Glossier is opening a new retail store in sunny Las Vegas. Instagram 

• The team behind Drybar — Alli Webb, Michael Landau, and Brittany Driscoll — are betting on a new massage studio called Squeeze. Squeeze is expected to hit $10M in revenue this year and already has north of 100 locations in development. The branding is so good. WWD

• Skincare brand BYOMA launched three new lip care products: Liptide Lip Oil, Liptide Lip Mask, and Liptide pH Lip Oil. Instagram

Food, Beverage, and Alcohol

• Gut-friendly soda brand Poppi launched its newest flavor — Lemon Lime. Instagram

• Stuzzi Hot Sauce, the Italian hot sauce brand from spirits firm CKBG, officially launched. Stuzzi is available exclusively online but will begin hitting retail shelves in the near future. Business Wire

• Italian pasta giant Barilla is killing Tolerant Foods, its grain-free pasta range. Barilla is discontinuing the brand in order to focus on its other brands which generated just north of $5B in 2022. Just Food 

• Little Sesame collaborated with music producer LP Giobbi on a seasonal hummus called Green Goddess which features fresh tarragon, mint, and parsley Instagram

• SOMOS launched a new line of simmer sauces. Three flavors are available — Mild Taco, Al Pastor Taco and Fajita Simmer Sauces — exclusively at Whole Foods Market. Instagram

• Primal Kitchen, a producer of BFY condiments, cooking oils, and salad dressings, launched a new line of dipping sauces with four flavors: Chicken Dippin', Avocado Lime, Special Sauce, and Yum Yum Sauce. PR Newswire

Data 🖥️

• Poppi and OLIPOP continue to post enormous growth. For the four weeks ending on March 23rd, Poppi volume jumped 240% while OLIPOP volume surged 371%. Twitter 

Distribution News 🚚

• MyMuse launched its Inspired Soda line at Sprouts and Target.

• Panic Panties launched at over 5,000 CVS stores.

• Zesty Z launched its pita chips at Stop & Shop.