Madre Mezcal Bags $3M, Quinn Expands Leadership Team 🥨

Author

CPG WIRE
February 15, 2025

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

  • Ahimsa buys Blackbird Foods 🍕

  • Tru raises $4.6M 💧

  • Lemme x Barry’s 🥭

  • Oatly gets back on track 🥛

  • B.T.R. Nation lands at Giant 🍫

Deals 💰

Mergers & Acquisitions 

  • Blackbird Foods, a purveyor of plant-based comfort foods like pizza and wings, was acquired by Ahimsa Companies for an undisclosed sum. Ahimsa, which launched in 2024, is best known for acquiring distressed plant-based food companies like Wicked Kitchen and Simulate. Blackbird Foods retails at Sprouts, Target, and Whole Foods Market. NOSH

  • Nameless CPG, an Austin-based acquirer of consumer brands, has purchased Wander Beauty for an undisclosed sum. This is the largest acquisition for Nameless CPG thus far. Wander Beauty, co-founded by Divya Gugnani and Lindsay Ellingson in 2015, is known for its makeup and skincare essentials. LinkedIn

  • Boxed Water Is Better was acquired by a private group of investors operating under the name Nyrad LLC. The transaction will enable Boxed Water CEO Daryn Kuipers to expand distribution and invest in manufacturing. Twitter

  • Steve Madden has acquired UK-based Kurt Geiger for $360M in an all-cash deal. The seller is international private equity firm Cinven who acquired Kurt Geiger in 2015. Footwear News

Fundraising

  • Fast-growing spirits brand Madre Mezcal secured $3M in funding from No Sleep Beverage, an investment firm led by former Pernod Ricard exec Nick Papanicolaou. Madre, which was founded in 2016, is currently distributed in 31 U.S. states and 20 countries. The company expanded into the tequila category last summer. LinkedIn

  • Performance beverage brand Tru raised $4.6M in funding and deepened its partnership with Polar Beverages who will handle manufacturing, distribution, and warehousing. BevNET

What’s New 🤩

Apparel, Cosmetics, and Wellness

  • L’Oréal Groupe named Ali Goldstein as President of Acquisitions for the U.S. market. Goldstein will be responsible for identifying brands and technology startups to acquire. Happi

  • VMS brand Lemme partnered with Barry’s to launch the Lemme Tone Shake. The shake contains coconut water, protein powder, raspberries, mangos, and a number of other ingredients. The co-branded shake is available exclusively at Barry’s Fuel Bars through February 28th. Instagram

  • Luxury skincare brand Simon Ourian M.D. expanded into wellness with personalized nutrition supplements. They currently only offer one product, Daily Ritual, but a full range of wellness products will launch in the coming months. The Industry

Food, Beverage, and Alcohol

  • Better-for-you snack brand Quinn expanded its leadership team with three key hires. Heather Cooper, previously SVP of Sales at Oatly, joined as Chief Sales Officer; while Beth Hunsicker Parker, previously VP of Marketing at Otter Products, joined as VP of Marketing. Randy Anderson, who worked in ops at OLIPOP for three years, also joined Quinn as Chief Supply Chain and Operations Officer. NOSH

  • Sabra expanded its hummus range with two unique flavors: Chimichurri and Falafel. PepsiCo, which acquired the remaining 50% of Sabra last year, is clearly waking up to increased pressure from the likes of Little Sesame and Ithaca Hummus. Deli Market News

  • SKYY Vodka launched a Spicy Mango Vodka and expanded their ready-to-serve cocktail range with an Espresso Martini and a Cosmopolitan. The Spicy Mango bottle looks fantastic. PR Newswire

  • SunSip, the better-for-you soda range from Health-Ade, added two new flavors: Dr. Bubbles and Cream Soda. PR Newswire

  • In very random collaboration news…Perfect Bar teamed up with singer Jason Mraz to launch a limited-edition flavor — Chocolate Mrazberry. Hats off to Perfect Bar for the great name, though. Trend Hunter

  • Oobli and Ingredion formed a partnership to scale the former’s sweet protein technology. The two companies recently tested several co-developed products to better understand the opportunities for sweet proteins. Next month, they’ll unveil some of these novel sweet treats at Future Food Tech in San Francisco. PR Newswire

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Data 🖥️

  • Oatly reported its Q4 results and revenue increased 5% to over $214M. The company’s quarterly net loss also narrowed to $91M, down from $298M in Q4 of 2023. Oatly also expects to achieve its first full year of profitable growth in 2025. Vegconomist

  • Mark Gallo shared some fascinating data on the sparkling water category. Sparkling Ice did more than $1B in annual sales while Polar did $386M. Waterloo is right behind Spindrift with $266M in sales. Twitter

Distribution News 🚚