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  • L'Oreal Buys Galderma Stake, Mars Explores Kellanova Deal 🥨

L'Oreal Buys Galderma Stake, Mars Explores Kellanova Deal 🥨

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CPG WIRE
August 06, 2024

Welcome back to This Week in CPG, folks. If you missed our Q2 Consumer Review you can find it here. It’s basically 8,000 words on everything that happened in CPG in Q2. Use discount code CPG20 to take 20% off.

Let’s dive into the newsletter:

  • IFG buys Killer Brownie Co. 🍞

  • AB InBev sells Atom Group 🍸

  • Agrovision raises $100M 🫐

  • Arlow & Vino Disco debut 🍷

  • BIGFACE RTDs ☕️

Deals 💰

Mergers & Acquisitions 

  • French beauty giant L’Oreal will acquire a 10% stake in Galderma, a producer of innovative dermatology solutions. Galderma owns a handful of consumer brands like Cetaphil however they’re best known for Dysport, their version of Botox. Galderma’s revenue for the first half of 2024 jumped over 10% to $2.2B. L’Oreal and Galderma plan to jointly pursue scientific breakthroughs in the field of dermatology. Reuters

  • Mars, the owner of Snickers and M&Ms, is reportedly in advanced talks to acquire Kellanova, the snack firm that owns Cheez-It, Eggo, Pringles, Pop-Tarts, and RXBAR. Kellanova has a market cap of $27B so this would be one of the largest deals of all time in CPG. WSJ

  • Irresistible Foods Group (IFG) acquired a majority stake in brownie maker The Killer Brownie Co. IFG owns a number of consumer brands like King’s Hawaiian, Grillo’s Pickles, and Shaka Tea. In March, IFG led a $8.7M funding round in Honey Mama’s. Food Business News

  • AB InBev has sold Atom Group back to its founder, Justin Petszaft. Atom Group is a UK-based company that owns an e-commerce spirits platform, Masters of Malt, as well as a number of spirits brands like Bathtub Gin. Just Drinks

Fundraising

  • Agrovision, a vertically integrated producer of premium superfruits like blueberries and blackberries, raised $100M in equity funding at a valuation north of $1B. Investors include Aliment Capital and Steve Kaplan, the co-founder of Oaktree Capital Management. Kyla Scanlon sheds some light on just how big the berry biz is here. Business Wire

  • Black-owned haircare brand Naturaz secured $1M in growth capital from the Philadelphia Community Impact Fund and a number of angel investors. PR Newswire

  • Realm Artesian Water, a premium bottled water brand from the Adirondack Mountains, raised $1.5M in fresh funding. The brand debuted at the Fancy Food Show in New York City in June. Albany Business Review 

What’s New 🤩

Apparel, Cosmetics, and Wellness

  • Emily Oberg, the founder of popular apparel brand Sporty & Rich, is looking to get into the sexual wellness game based on trademark applications for Sensual Sport. Sporty & Rich launched a line of beauty products late last year so this isn’t Oberg’s first rodeo. WWD

  • There’s a charming new butt care brand called MyBum. The company was founded by Summer Brock who previously worked at The Good Patch. Beauty Independent

  • Underlining, a developer of beauty brands, launched a customizable haircare brand called Freewill. The range was designed for hair cycling and is available exclusively at Sally Beauty. Happi

  • CURiO Brands, a purveyor of luxury fragrances, named Michael Moore as its new CEO. Moore most recently served as the President of Harry’s. CURiO owns Capri BLUE, Otherland, and Thymes. PR Newswire

Food, Beverage, and Alcohol

  • Arlow, a low-alcohol wine brand and the sister brand of Surely Wines, officially made its debut. Arlow is available for purchase on their website and will begin hitting retailers later this year. Good-looking packaging 👇 PR Newswire

  • Another wine brand, Vino Disco, is a premium boxed wine brand from California that also just launched. Vino Disco

  • BIGFACE, the coffee brand co-founded by NBA All-Star Jimmy Butler, just launched a range of oat milk lattes with three flavors: Original, Coconut Cinnamon, and Ube Vanilla. The flavors and packaging are both pretty novel. Excited to try. BIGFACE

  • Innovative brewless coffee brand Diamond Brew officially launched. The company was founded by Douglas Yu who’s a well-known business journalist and CPG venture capitalist. Diamond Brew is backed by Dream Ventures, Entrepreneur Ventures, and Michael Costello. PR Newswire

Data 🖥️

  • Hims & Hers posted another fantastic quarterly performance. In Q2, revenue surged 52% YoY to just over $315M while their subscriber base jumped 43% to 1.9M. The telehealth company expects FY adjusted EBITDA to land between $140-155M. Monster. Business Wire

  • Energy drink brand Celsius also posted record Q2 results. Revenue for the period increased 23% YoY to $402M. Retail sales of Celsius in total U.S. MULOC grew by 36.5% YoY while international sales jumped 30% to $19.6M. Business Wire

Distribution News 🚚