Non-Alc Space Stays Hot 📈

Author

CPG WIRE
January 04, 2023

Good morning and Happy New Year, folks. The holiday malaise is over and we're back in action. Here's what we're covering this morning:

  • The non-alc beverage space remains hot 🍺

  • Sazerac breaks up with RNDC 💔

  • Provence Beauty lands at Ulta Beauty 💄

  • A personal care unicorn in India will go public 📈

The Big Story

We're only four days into 2023 and it's already been a fruitful year for non-alcoholic beverage brands. The week began with two big headlines:

1) London-based non-alcoholic brewer Lucky Saint secured close to $12m in Series A funding. The round was co-led by Beringea and JamJar Investments. JamJar has a wildly successful consumer brand portfolio which you can find here. Lucky Saint was founded in 2018 by Luke Boase. Link

2) Dutch spirits firm Lucas Bols acquired Fluere, a beautifully bottled non-alcoholic spirits brand that launched in 2018. The price was $1.05m plus a potential earnout tied to revenue & EBITDA. Link

Fluere has traded hands a few times already. Next Frontier Spirits acquired it in February of 2021 but the founders, Leon Meijers and Alfred Sandee, bought it back in January of 2022.

We've certainly entered the golden age of non-alcoholic beverages, but the question remains whether there's enough consumer spend to support the plethora of brands that exist today, or if most will expire, leaving a handful of category leaders.

Deals

  • Artisanal soft pretzel & Belgian waffle brand Eastern Standard Provisions raised $13.5m in funding. Mondelez's venture arm, SnackFutures, participated. The company also plans to raise an additional $6.45m. Link

  • Boston-based keto protein bar brand IQBAR secured funding from FF2032, the venture arm of Lotus Bakeries. Lotus Bakeries has built an impressive venture portfolio over the years. Their portfolio companies include The Good Crisp Company, Partake Foods, Peter's Yard, and Love Corn. IQBAR was founded by Will Nitze in 2017. Link

  • Indian personal care unicorn Mamaearth filed to go public. The company was founded by Hindustan Unilever alum Varun Alagh and his wife, Ghazal Alagh. Its backers include Sequoia India, Sofina, and Fireside Ventures. Link

  • Reliance Retail, an Indian conglomerate and the country's largest retailer, acquired a majority stake in Lotus Chocolate, a producer of branded and non-branded chocolate products. Mukesh Ambani's ambition, seemingly, is to own every store in India and a good portion of the products sold in them too. Link

  • Tequila producer Casa Maestri acquired Santera Tequila, a premium tequila brand that launched in 2015. Santera's master distiller, Augustin Sanchez, uses centuries-old distillation methods to create unique, authentic agave products. Link

What's New...

  • epres, the new haircare brand from Olaplex co-founder Dr. Eric Pressly, secured a patent for its molecular technology that repairs disulfide bonds. Dr. Pressly now holds more than 100 patents related to bond-repair technology. Confident we'll be hearing a lot about epres in the coming years. Link

  • PRIME ENERGY from Logan Paul & KSI officially launches today at 1pm EST. Given the success of their hydration products, demand for the five energy products will likely be extreme. Here's to hoping the site doesn't crash. Link

  • A vegan foie gras brand from Spain, Hello Fuah!, sold out 12 hours after launch. Link

  • Ojai-based luxury tea brand Magic Hour unveiled its latest line: Wanderlust Tea Collection. Each month Magic Hour will release a new tea inspired by a particular region. Their products are pretty beautiful. Link

  • A striking new outdoor advertisement for Tiffany at the Louvre. LVMH is eager to turn this brand around. Link

  • According to Beauty Independent, doctors are skincare's biggest stars (again). Link

  • London-based skincare brand Faace is launching a very fun daily moisturizer. Link

  • Neutrogena (Johnson & Johnson) is partnering with personalized supplement startup Nourished to produce personalized, 3D-printed skincare supplements. Link

Distribution Quickfire

  • Provence Beauty, a LA-based skincare brand aiming to make French beauty practices more accessible, will launch at Ulta Beauty later this month. The brand recently received a great packaging refresh.

  • Sazerac — the owner of Buffalo Trace, Southern Comfort, Fireball, and many other spirits brands — is ditching in RNDC in select markets to work with regional distributors.

  • The Outset, Scarlett Johansson's skincare line, will launch two more products at Sephora.

Thank you for reading along. We'll see you again on Saturday morning.