Lucille Secures 7-Figures, Sazerac Chases Rival 🥃

Author

CPG WIRE
April 16, 2026

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

  • Collab Fund raises $250M 💰

  • ARMRA appoints new CMO 🐮

  • Three Wishes refreshes packaging 🥣

  • Recess continues to cook 📈

  • AG1 launches storewide at Target 🎯

Deals 💰

Mergers & Acquisitions 

  • New York-based Ayurvedic haircare brand AAVRANI has been acquired by Nivora Group, a consumer-focused private equity firm. Founded in 2017 by Rooshy Roy and Justin Silver, AAVRANI built a reputation for translating ancient Indian rituals into clinically validated haircare products. PR Newswire

  • According to the WSJ, Sazerac offered to buy rival spirits maker Brown-Forman for around $15B. Sazerac has acquired several brands over the past few years including BuzzBallz, Western Son Vodka, SVEDKA, and Dirty Shirley, but shelling out $15B for Brown-Forman would be its most ambitious deal yet. It’s difficult to imagine a family-owned company like Brown-Forman exiting outright when a merger with Pernod Ricard is still on the table, however. WSJ

  • Chanel-owned Napa winery St. Supéry has acquired Rudd Estate in Oakville, CA. The transaction includes the 65-acre estate and the premium Crossroads by Rudd brand. The Drinks Business

Fundraising

  • Senior nutrition startup Lucille closed a 7-figure funding round led by IRIS Ventures. New Fare Partners and Able Partners also participated in the round. Founded in 2025 by Jess Haghani, Lucille aims to disrupt the stale senior nutrition category with its high-protein, high-fiber shake range. Lucille officially debuted in March with a shake that delivers 20g of protein, 5g of fiber, and 23 vitamins and minerals. Instagram

  • Collaborative Fund raised $250M for Collab Holdings, a private equity fund and a long-term home for consumer brands. The idea with Collab Holdings is to acquire significant minority stakes in profitable, growing consumer brands that aren’t on a path to a big exit or IPO. Since launching in 2010, Collab Fund has backed Magic Spoon, OLIPOP, Immi, Zack’s Mighty, and many others. Inc.

  • Clean Food Group, a UK-based producer of sustainable oils and fats, secured £4.5M in funding to expand its production facility. The round was co-led by Clean Growth Fund and New Agrarian. Clean Food Group leverages yeast fermentation to produce alternatives to agricultural oils and fats. FoodBev

  • Rip Van, a 16-year-old purveyor of Dutch sweet treats, secured an undisclosed amount of funding to support growth in the grocery channel. Rip Van has built a formidable DTC and club business but now the company is shifting focus to Target, Kroger, and H-E-B. Nosh

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What’s New 🤩

Apparel, Cosmetics, and Wellness

  • Leading colostrum brand ARMRA recently appointed Hamid Saify as CMO. Saify spent four years in various marketing roles at Liquid Death before joining Lucky Energy as Chief Marketing Officer. He’s also an investor in HY.Q and Grounded. LinkedIn

  • Modern creatine brand Create expanded its creatine gummies range with Single Serve Daily Pouches. The 3-count pouches are designed for on-the-go consumers. Create has dialed up the innovation since securing $20M in growth funding roughly two weeks ago. LinkedIn

  • Stripes Beauty, the menopausal wellness brand co-owned by Naomi Watts and L Catterton, partnered with Canyon Ranch to introduce a series of treatments designed for women navigating midlife and menopause. The treatments are available now at Canyon Ranch resorts in Tucson and Lenox. PR Newswire

  • Wellness brand O Positiv has launched several new products over the past few weeks, including Women’s Probiotic + Collagen Peptides, Women’s Creatine + Electrolytes, and a Vaginal Moisture Suppository with Hyaluronic Acid. LinkedIn

Food, Beverage, and Alcohol

  • Better-for-you cereal brand Three Wishes teased a packaging refresh. The logo is bolder and cleaner and they significantly reduced the noise. The callouts are also more legible and they elevated the product imagery and flavor cues. Good work. Instagram

  • Le Lick is a new electrolyte lollipop brand. Each lollipop delivers 180mg of sodium, 170mg of potassium, and 30mg of magnesium. They also offer a caffeinated version with 50mg of caffeine. Le Lick’s branding is great and they offer some novel flavors. Le Lick

  • Little Sesame expanded its hummus portfolio with two grab-and-go products: Little Sesame Hummus Snacker and Little Sesame Protein Hummus. The Hummus Snacker combines their Original hummus with pretzel pita chips from Pretzelized. Both products are available exclusively at Target along with their Hummus for Kids line. Nosh

  • Olyra launched a new line of clean fig bars with two flavors: Raspberry and Blueberry. Each fig bar is USDA organic and contains 50% less sugar and 3g of fiber. Instagram

  • Throne Sport Coffee added marketing vet Julia Perez as CMO. Prior to joining Throne, Perez served as the CMO of OWYN before its acquisition by Simply Good Foods. She also spent several years scaling CORE Water which was acquired by KDP in 2018. Food Business News

  • Slate expanded its high-protein iced coffee range with a Cinnamon Swirl Latte flavor. The new flavor is available exclusively via their website. Instagram

Data 🖥️

  • Recess is now the #1 mocktail brand in Total U.S. MULO for the 52-week period ending on March 22nd. Recess Zero Proof, the company’s premium craft mocktail range, is available at Sprouts, Trader Joe’s, H-E-B, and several other chains. Recess closed a $30M Series B round led by CAVU in October. LinkedIn

  • According to The New Consumer, Grüns is about to overtake AG1 in DTC sales. For context, AG1 was founded in 2016 while Grüns launched in 2023. Twitter

Distribution News 🚚

  • AG1 launched two lines storewide at Target.

  • KiZE is now available at 1700+ Walmart doors.

  • Smood Sweets expanded to 1,900 Target doors.

  • Zucker’s Bagels launched at Milam’s Markets.

  • Hiya launched nationwide at Target.