Nixie Secures Nearly $27M, More Egg Industry M&A 🥚

Author

CPG WIRE
April 01, 2025

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

  • Schwabe buys BRAINEFFECT 🧠

  • Something & Nothing raises $2.5M 🫧

  • Encore backs LYS Beauty 💄

  • IQBAR drops a surprise 👀

  • F3 Energy launches at Vitamin Shoppe ⚡️

Nixie Secures Nearly $27M 🥤

According to a recent SEC filing, fast-growing beverage brand Nixie secured $26.9M in equity funding from undisclosed investors. The company, founded in 2019 and based in Massachusetts, launched with a line of organic sparkling waters before expanding into the better-for-you soda category last summer.

The founders of Nixie — husband-and-wife duo Peter & Nicole Bernard Dawes — previously built Late July Organic Snacks into a force in better-for-you salty snacks. Once Late July surpassed $100M in annual revenue, the couple sold a majority stake to Snyder’s-Lance, now a subsidiary of The Campbell’s Company.

Nixie has managed to cut through the noise in a wildly saturated sparkling water market by focusing on organic ingredients, novel flavors, and fairly accessible pricing. We don’t have much visibility into their numbers, but according to Axios, Nixie grew more than 3000% over their first three years and is now growing at a 40% year-over-over clip.

With their recent move into the modern soda category, Nixie has positioned itself as a better-for-you beverage platform instead of just a sparkling water brand.

This is the latest in a series of large funding rounds for beverage companies:

  • OLIPOP raised $50M in February

  • Lucky Energy has raised a total of $40M

  • Athletic Brewing raised $50M last July

  • Liquid Death raised $67M last March

  • Culture Pop raised $21M last February

  • Bloom raised $90M last January

With all of the massive exits in the beverage industry lately  — Alani Nu, Ghost Energy, Poppi, and Spindrift — it’s no surprise that investors remain hyper-bullish on the sector.

You can find the SEC filing here.

Deals 💰

Mergers & Acquisitions 

  • Schwabe Group has acquired a majority stake in BRAINEFFECT, a German purveyor of nutritional supplements and functional foods. The brand launched in 2015 and is based in Berlin. The Schwabe Group owns a variety of companies in the pharmaeutical and health industry. LinkedIn 

  • Willow, a Mountain View-based maker of wearable breast pumps, has acquired Elvie, a London-based purveyor of female-first technologies like breast pumps and kegel exercisers. Elvie raised around $186M but recently filed for bankruptcy protection. TechCrunch

  • Hillandale Farms, a family-owned company and one of the largest egg producers in the US, was acquired by Global Eggs for $1.1B. Luxembourg-based Global Eggs currently owns the largest egg producers in Brazil and Spain. There’s been a ton of consolidation in the egg industry lately. Pete & Gerry’s acquired Farmers Hen House in January, and JBS scooped up Mantiqueira Alimentos soon thereafter. FoodBev

Fundraising

  • Something & Nothing, a UK-based premium soda brand, raised $2.5M in fresh equity funding. The round was led by Source Ventures — the venture arm of Dutch bottled water producer Spadel — and included participation from Venrex, Anotherway Venures, Rianta Capital, and a handful of strategic angels. Something & Nothing launched in 2017 and is available in the US, UK, and EU. BevNET

  • LYS Beauty, a black-owned makeup brand founded by Tisha Thompson, secured an 8-figure Series A investment from Encore Consumer Capital. LYS Beauty launched in 2021 and retails at Sephora. Encore’s previous investments include Supergoop, Tarte Cosmetics, Navitas Organics, and Love Wellness. Fashionista

🚨 Big Opportunity For Brands 🚨

My friends at The Dink are taking their nationwide pickleball tour to the next level — and they’re looking for CPG brands to get in on the action.

We’re talking:

  • 20,000+ players competing nationwide 🏆

  • 7 regional & 20 state championships 📍

  • 1 national championship with a $100K prize pool 🎟️

  • 2M+ social followers & app users 📢

  • 600K engaged email subscribers 📩

This is the biggest grassroots pickleball circuit in the U.S., and it’s the perfect place for brands to connect with an active, engaged community.

If you want to sponsor or activate your brand with The Dink Minor League, shoot them an email at [email protected].

What’s New 🤩

Apparel, Cosmetics, and Wellness

  • Wittles is a new player in the children’s health & wellness category. The brand launched with a dairy-free drink mix that includes 8g of protein along with vitamins, minerals, and superfoods. This space has been booming lately. Late last year, USANA scooped up a majority stake in Hiya Health for $205M in cash. Hiya Health had LTM net sales of $103M. Wittles

  • The Vitamin Shoppe released a private label supplement line for GLP-1 users. The new line offers protein, fiber, probiotics, multivitamins, and a comprehensive all-in-one nutrient solution. PR Newswire

  • Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day (owned by SC Johnson) is expanding into pet care with a line of pet grooming products. Trend Hunter

Food, Beverage, and Alcohol

  • Benestar Brands and Palmex Alimentos merged in December of 2023 and the company now has a new brand identity — Monarca Authentic Snacks. The combined company is becoming a major player in the salty snacks category with nine manufacturing facilities across the U.S. and Mexico. Food Business News

  • It appears that AriZona Beverages is partnering with viral internet legend The Rizzler on a new flavor — RizzBerry. This is a 10/10 collab. Instagram

  • Hats off to Will Nitze and the IQBAR team on a legitimately great April Fool’s prank. Also smart to release it a day prior to cut through the noise. Respect. Instagram

  • Seattle’s Fair Isle Brewing released a beer that’s crafted with sugar kelp from Blue Dot Sea Farms. The goal is to raise awareness for local marine ecosystems and to showcase the nutritional value and sustainability of sugar kelp. Brewbound

  • Tequila brand Ocho released a new variety that’s aged in Old Fitzgerald Bourbon barrels. The Spirits Business

  • UK-based Bio&Me launched a high-protein porridge range with two flavors: Blueberry and Caramel. Each serving contains 12g of protein along with whole foods like almonds, dates, and sunflower seeds. FoodBev

  • Tingly Ted’s, the hot sauce partnership between Ed Sheeran and Kraft Heinz, launched a new SKU — Xtra Tingly Sauce. The Grocer

  • The Good Crisp Company unveiled their newest product, Spicy Jalapeno Crinkle Cut Chips. Instagram

Data 🖥️

  • Sauz continues to grow at an impressive clip. According to co-founder Troy Bonde, the brand’s revenue jumped over 12x in Q1 2025 compared to Q1 of 2024. Incredible. Twitter

  • The Hershey Company released its annual report and now we know they spent $75.5M to acquire Sour Strips last year. Twitter

Distribution News 🚚