Santatera Capital Backs Sunnie 🥪

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

• Koppie grabs funding ☕️

• Reliance partners with FACEGYM 🏋️‍♂️

• Gisou expands lineup 🐝

• Hot Take Dough x Tony’s Chocolonely 🍪

• Canned cocktails continue growth story 📈

Deals 💰

Mergers & Acquisitions 

• Blue Sky Hemp Ventures has sold its hemp-based food division to Fresh Hemp Foods. Proceeds from the transaction will be used to accelerate the expansion of Blue Sky's contract manufacturing services, including the production of vape pens, pre-rolls, softgels, etc. PR Newswire

Fundraising

• Clean snack brand Sunnie raised $1M in fresh funding from Santatera Capital. Founded in 2020 by Katy Tucker and Lisette Howard, Sunnie produces a variety of healthy snacks that retail at Target and Whole Foods Market. With LesserEvil, Simple Mills, and Siete recently exiting for $750M and above, it’s no surprise that investors remain bullish on clean snacking. Instagram

• Koppie, a Belgian alternative coffee startup, secured an undisclosed amount of pre-seed funding in a round led by Nucleus Capital. Other investors include Rockstart, Mudcake, and several angel investors. With global coffee demand surging and yields declining, Koppie hopes to fill the void. AgFunderNews

• London-based FACEGYM announced a strategic minority investment from Reliance Retail Ventures, the retail venture arm of Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest man. Over the next five years, Reliance will help FACEGYM open 25 studios across India. The Industry

What’s New 🤩

Apparel, Cosmetics, and Wellness

• Dividends is a new premium men’s skincare brand. The longevity-focused skincare brand was founded by Jake Rosenblum and currently offers four products: a cleanser, moisturizer, retinol, and sunscreen. Per Beauty Independent, Dividends is focused on the Equinox fellas. Beauty Independent

• Popular haircare brand Gisou released two new products — Honey Gloss Ceramide Therapy Shampoo & Conditioner. The two new SKUs are available online at Sephora and will arrive in-store on July 11th. Instagram

• Japanese apparel and footwear brand Onitsuka Tiger revealed its first-ever fragrance line with four scents. The brand also opened a stunning two-story flagship store in Paris. The Industry

• British actor and influencer Gemma Atkinson launched a crowdfunding campaign to support the launch of her beauty brand, Gem & Tonic. The brand sold £127K worth of merchandise during a three-week pre-order run late last year. The Grocer

Food, Beverage, and Alcohol

• SOLO released a functional drink mix that contains just about every active supplement ingredient on the planet. The All-In-One Hybrid Performance Supplement contains 33g of protein, 11g of collagen, 5g of creatine, 3g of beta-alanine, 150mg of caffeine, and 625mg of electrolytes. The early reviews on their website are pretty good and I’m intrigued by their value proposition (one drink mix instead of a various different supplements). A 12-pack retails for $59.99. Stack3d

• Tony’s Chocolonely collaborated with Hot Take Dough on a co-branded frozen cookie dough. The product was released yesterday and the branding is spectacular. Looks like it’s available exclusively online. Instagram

• Gamer Supps is entering the energy drink category with a line of 12 oz energy drinks. The cans are fun and very on-brand for Gamer Supps. Three flavors will be available starting on Friday: Strawberry & Kiwi, Strawberry Lime, and Cherry Slush. BevNET

• Honey Mama’s and Four Sigmatic collaborated on a functional chocolate truffle bar. Dubbed Focus Fudge, the limited-edition flavor contains Four Sigmatic’s lion’s mane mushroom extract. Trend Hunter

• Fabric is a new THC-infused hop water brand from Australia. The brand is launching with three different products — Clarity, Rhythm, and Downtime — and will donate 2% to mental health initatives. The branding is terrific. The Dieline

• Speaking of THC beverages…Coco Flow is bringing a line of THC-infused coconut waters to market. Coco Flow is non-carbonated and features five different cannabinoids. Instagram

• Ireland’s Forest Feast launched two new chocolate-coated date products: Salted Caramel Milk Chocolate and Pistachio Crisp Milk Chocolate. FoodBev

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Data 🖥️

• Canned cocktails remain a bright spot in an otherwise ailing domestic spirits industry. 8 of the top-10 brands adding the most dollar sales YoY are canned cocktail brands. The biggest gainers were Surfside, BuzzBallz, Sun Cruiser, and a handful of other brands. Twitter

• National Beverage Corp’s market cap rose to over $4.5B after the company beat Q4 forecasts. The owner of La Croix saw net sales increase 5.5% to $314M while net income exceeded $48M. Business Wire

Distribution News 🚚

• Tortilla chip brand El Nacho launched at Sprouts Farmers Market.

• RTE oats brand Brekki launched nationwide at Sam’s Club.

• The Inkey List is launching 50 SKUs at Ulta Beauty.

• K-Beauty brand Beauty of Joseon is launching at Sephora.

• Saltverk launched at Akin’s Natural Foods and Chamberlin’s.