Mars Men & Create Close $20M+ Rounds 💊

Welcome back to This Week in CPG, folks. Here’s what we’re covering this morning:

• Unilever & MKC talks heat up 🔥

• Stories & Ink nabs investment 🧴

• Ultra Violette launches body oil ⛱️

• Casamigos alum unveils RTD brand 🍸

• MOJU continues to grow fast 🍊

Deals 💰

Mergers & Acquisitions 

• According to the Wall Street Journal, Unilever is on the verge of merging its food division with McCormick. Unilever’s board met yesterday to discuss the deal which could be announced as soon as today. The merger would create a new food giant worth around $60B. WSJ 

• Milwaukee-based Eagle Park Brewing & Distilling has acquired SoulBoxer, a premium ready-to-serve cocktail brand. Founded in 2015 by bartenders Jason Neu and Doug MacKenzie, SoulBoxer offers a wide variety of cocktails in multi-serve bottles. Eagle Park previously served as SoulBoxer’s co-packing partner. OnMilwaukee

Fundraising

• Mars Men, a fast-growing purveyor of natural testosterone supplements, secured $27.5M in Series A funding. L Catterton led the round. Founded by Benjamin Smith and Zach Stuck, Mars Men hit a $100M+ revenue run rate in less than 18 months. Their natural testosterone booster delivers active ingredients like Fenugreek, Tongkat Ali, Zinc, and Boron which support long-term health and vitality. Business Wire

• Modern creatine brand Create closed a $20M Series B round led by Alliance Consumer Growth (ACG). Impact Capital, the family office of legendary entrepreneur Mike Repole, and Unilever Ventures also participated in the round. Create has sold more than 20 million gummies since launching and is now the top-selling creatine gummy brand at Target. The company also dropped a new product line: Creatine + Electroyltes. PR Newswire

• Stories & Ink, a UK-based tattoo care brand, secured an undisclosed amount of funding at an $11.4M valuation. Founded in late 2019 by Stu Jolley, Stories & Ink offers a variety of body care and tattoo aftercare products. The brand launched nationwide at Target in the U.S. in 2024. LinkedIn 

• Hard Cut Vodka, a spirits brand co-founded by Swedish actor Dolph Lundgren, raised over $630K on crowdfunding platform StartEngine. The premium vodka brand will remain focused on its home market of California for the foreseeable future. The Spirits Business

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What’s New 🤩

Apparel, Cosmetics, and Wellness

• Australian suncare brand Ultra Violette launched an SPF body oil: Disco Queen SPF 50 Luminous Body Oil. The new product offers broad-spectrum protection and up to 2 hours of water resistance. Ultra Violette was founded in 2019 and is backed by Aria Growth Partners. The Industry

• Another suncare brand, Coola, released Recovery+ Mist. The product is powered by hypochlorous acid which helps reduce redness and calm irritation while supporting the skin barrier. Happi

• Grow-Good Beauty, the new haircare brand from Cardi B, is launching on April 15th with six core products. Prices range from $14.99 to $17.99 depending on the SKU. Cardi B developed Grow-Good Beauty alongisde Revolve Group. Pre-sale opened up earlier this month and sold out. Instagram

• UK-based supplement brand Rheal announced a sleek packaging refresh. The logo is bolder, the information hierarchy is much clearer, and the key ingredient callouts are more pronounced. LinkedIn

Food, Beverage, and Alcohol

• Lee Einsidler, a veteran spirits exec and the former CEO of Casamigos, has launched a canned cocktail brand called Por Qué No. Por Qué No combines tequila, vodka, and fruity flavors in a 12 oz can. Their products are currently available in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut are next for the brand. BevNET

• Functional beverage brand Throne Sport Coffee has added MLB star Alex Bregman as a brand partner and investor. Throne’s athlete roster now includes Patrick Mahomes, Breanna Stewart, and Alex Toussaint. Mahomes is one of Throne’s largest shareholders and led one of their previous rounds. LinkedIn

• Kaizen, a high-protein pasta and rice player, unveiled a bold brand refresh earlier this month. They ditched the two-tone theme and doubled down on functionality, clear callouts, and product imagery (something that was sorely missing in earlier iterations). Massive improvement IMO. Nosh

• Santa Cruz Paleo launched a grass-fed protein bar line. Each bar features 20g of protein from grass-fed whey and collagen. The bars are also free from seed oils and artificial flavors. Two flavors are available: Vanilla Bean and Peanut Butter. Instagram

• Drizzilicious, one of the fastest-growing snack brands in the country, launched a new Drizzled Kettle Corn line. Four flavors are available exclusively via their website. Instagram

• Lifestyle brand YoungLA collaborated with Gorilla Mind on a nootropic coffee called Young LAtte. The collab drops today at 12pm PST. Stack3d

• All Things Dairy expanded its cottage cheese range with two low-fat varieties. The company expanded into cottage cheese in December 2025 and the new line appears to be growing fast. Kam City

Data 🖥️

• MOJU, a functional wellness shot brand from the UK, is now the category leader for juice shots with 35% market share. Revenue also jumped nearly 33% to £22.8M last fiscal year. The Grocer

Distribution News 🚚

• Cadence launched at 2,000+ Walmart doors.

• Kindling Snacks launched at Kroger.

• Cleanlogic is launching at 6,000+ CVS stores.

• Nightingale Ice Cream launched at Wegmans.

• Dally is now available at Big Y in the Northeast.