Mad Tea Launches, Liquid Death Teases New Line 💀

Author

CPG WIRE
October 10, 2024

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

  • The Jackfruit Co. scores funding 🍔

  • Bravo Sierra raises, relaunches 💰

  • Open Water refreshes packaging 🌊

  • Red Bull reformulates ⚡️

  • Recoup heads to Sprouts 💧

Deals 💰

Mergers & Acquisitions 

  • Cannae Holdings and KDSA Investment Partners have acquired a majority stake in Watkins, a Minnesota-based producer of premium spices, seasonings, and extracts. Watkins was founded 1868 and is distributed at major retailers across the U.S. Mark Jacobs, the current chairman and majority owner of Watkins, will roll a significant equity stake forward. Business Wire

  • Ohio-based dairy producer SmithFoods was acquired by Prairie Farms Dairy for an undisclosed sum. SmithFoods will join Prairie’s network of 7,000 employees and 47 manufacturing facilities. Food Processing

  • Hendler Family Brewing Company, the owner of Jack’s Abby and Wormtown Brewery, has acquired Night Shift Brewing, a Massachusetts-based craft brewery. Brewbound

Fundraising

  • The Jackfruit Company — a purveyor of jackfruit meat alternatives and the owner of Jack & Annie’s — secured $5M in a Series B extension round. Investors include InvestEco, Creadev, and Grosvenor Food & AgTech. The Jackfruit Company was founded by Annie Ryu in 2011. AgFunder

  • UOBO, a Spanish producer of egg alternatives, closed a six-figure funding round led by Enzo Ventures. The company produces liquid plant-based eggs primarily for the foodservice channel. Vegconomist

  • Bravo Sierra, a military-themed personal care brand, secured $2.5M in funding from its existing investors. The company is relaunching with a focus on high-performance skin and haircare products. WWD

  • Luxury Canadian outerwear brand Moose Knuckles landed a minority investment from Bosideng, a publicly traded apparel manufacturer and brand owner from China. Bosideng will provide substantial strategic and financial support to help Moose Knuckles become a global leader in luxury outerwear. Business of Fashion

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What’s New 🤩

Apparel, Cosmetics, and Wellness

  • Beauty device maker Solawave is expanding its skincare offering by launching four new products on October 16th. Solawave sells an activating serum alongside its Red Light Wand, but this is their largest expansion into consumable products yet. WWD

  • Viral skincare brand Rhode just announced a new product, Barrier Butter Balm, and supermodel Claudia Schiffer is starring in the campaign to promote it. Business of Fashion

  • Legendary footballer Lionel Messi has partnered with Game On Product Group to launch his very own fragrance brand. The goal is for Messi’s fragrance brand to hit north of $100M in sales over the next few years. It’s wild that Messi has more than 500 million followers on Instagram. Glossy

  • Louis Vuitton launched its first permanent tableware collection. The collection will be available at LV boutiques toward the end of October. Hypebeast

  • Clean beauty brand MERIT launched its first-ever fragrance, Retrospect, which retails for $92 and is available online and storewide at Sephora. Fragrance has been the fastest-growing prestige beauty category so far in 2024. Retail Dive

Food, Beverage, and Alcohol

  • Biotech firm Genecis Bioindustries has launched Mad Tea, their first consumer brand. Mad Tea is a purveyor of compostable tea pods that are compatible with Nespresso machines. The packaging is terrific. Mad Tea

  • Liquid Death is officially launching a soda-flavored sparkling water range. This is a clever extension. Liquid Death isn’t the first beverage firm to do soda-inspired sparkling water, but they might be the first to find commercial success doing it. Twitter

  • Wanderlands, a new line of chef-crafted snack mixes, officially launched yesterday. The brand was created by Sofia Rovirosa and Jane Ko, a winemaker and neuroscientist, respectively. Love the packaging and flavors 👇 Wanderlands

  • Chobani is betting on protein with their newest product range, Chobani High Protein. The new line features yogurt cups and beverages that contain 15-30g of protein. PR Newswire

  • Sauz unveiled their newest pasta sauce — Cracked Pepper & Parmesan. Sauz has been on a distribution heater lately. They just landed Target and prior to that they launched at H-E-B. NOSH

  • Open Water, an ocean-friendly bottled water brand, just dropped a fantastic packaging refresh. Love the dynamic labels and the new “Make Waves” and “Bye Bye Plastic” icons 👇 Twitter

  • Brownie Brittle also refreshed their packaging. It’s not quite as slick as Open Water’s updated packaging, but it’s definitely an improvement. Twitter

  • Red Bull reformulated its zero sugar line with a new set of sweeteners — namely monk fruit extract — in order to appeal to a broader consumer base. Stack3d

  • The Graza-ification of cooking oils continues…Chosen Foods launched its 100% avocado oil in a squeeze bottle. Business Wire

Data 🖥️

  • BFY soda brand Poppi is cooking with gas. For the four week period ending on September 21st, volume shot up 163.8%. OLIPOP is also on fire with volume up 75.8% over the same period. Twitter

  • Shein’s UK revenue hit $2B in 2023, a year-over-year increase of 38%. The UK is their third largest market. Reuters

Distribution News 🚚