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  • Spindrift Explores Options, L Catterton Launches India Unit 🇮🇳

Spindrift Explores Options, L Catterton Launches India Unit 🇮🇳

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CPG WIRE
March 30, 2024

GM and Happy Saturday, folks. Congrats on making it to the weekend. Since yesterday was Good Friday, today’s newsletter is a shorter one. Nevertheless we have some very interesting stuff to dive into:

  • RBB hires bankers đź’„

  • Monique Rodriguez to launch VC fund đź’°

  • CKBG gets into the hot sauce biz 🌶️

  • Liquid Death drops two new flavors đź’€

  • New from Dr Smood đź©ş

If you happen to live in Austin, TX, we’re throwing an event there for CPG founders, operators, and investors on April 10th. We have a killer list of RSVPs along with a great venue. We’d love to see ya there. RSVP here.

Deals đź’°

Mergers & Acquisitions 

  • Spindrift, the sparkling water brand with net sales north of $300M, has hired advisers to explore its strategic options. A sale remains a possibility. Two outcomes are likely: a) Spindrift partners with a private equity firm to continue scaling over the next 3-5 years or b) one of the beverage giants (Coca-Cola, KDP, PepsiCo) acquires Spindrift outright. The only issue with the latter scenario is that the beverage firms mentioned above already have sparkling water plays. Coca-Cola has Topo Chico, PepsiCo has Bubly, and KDP has Polar via a long term distribution agreement. Bloomberg

  • Rare Beauty Brands, the owner of Patchology and Dr. Dana Beauty, has hired DC Advisors to explore its strategic options. Annual revenue is said to be around $30M. Beauty brands are keeping investment bankers busy. Kosas, Rare Beauty, Osea, Merit, and Jane Iredale are all for sale. WWD

  • Consumer private equity giant L Catterton opened a dedicated India division with former Unilever exec Sanjiv Mehta at the helm. With the world’s largest population and high GDP growth, L Catterton is eager to invest in India’s consumer ecosystem. Business of Fashion

  • 80 Acres Farms, an Ohio-based indoor farm and salad kit producer, acquired organic salad dressing brand Mother Raw. The seller is Reunion Foods, a Toronto-based food manufacturer. CincyInno

Fundraising

  • Monique Rodriguez, the co-founder of Mielle Organics which was acquired by P&G early last year, will launch a venture fund in the near future. Inc

  • KUDO Snacks, a Utah-based producer of protein popcorn, raised $2.1M in equity funding from undisclosed investors. SEC

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What’s New 🤩

Apparel, Cosmetics, and Wellness

  • Vacation officially launched its newest product — Orange GelĂ©e SPF 30. It’s a beauty (with a great story). Fashionista

  • Serial entrepreneur Joe Welstead, the co-founder and former CEO of Motion Nutrition, is launching a new hydration brand called Oshun. Early access is available now. Very excited to try this one. Oshun 

  • ELEMIS, the British skincare brand that L’Occitane Group acquired for $900M in 2019, opened its first standalone retail store. The 1,000-square-foot store is located in London’s Covent Garden. Beauty Packaging

  • Khloe Kardashian and athleisure brand Fabletics collaborated on their third collection. The 26-piece collection, dubbed Khloe V3, features compression swimwear. GlobeNewswire

  • Virginia-based wellness brand Apothekary launched a new skincare supplement called The Honest Youth which features acerola cherry, reishi, amla, and milk thistle. Happi

Food, Beverage, and Alcohol

  • Casa Komos Brands Group (CKBG) — the spirits firm behind Tequila Komos, Doladira, and Superbird Tequila — is launching an Italian hot sauce brand called Stuzzi soon. This is CKBG’s first-ever non-spirits brand. The packaging is unsurprisingly brilliant. Stuzzi 

  • Liquid Death launched two new iced tea flavors: Green Guillotine and Slaughter Berry. Both SKUs are available for purchase on Amazon. Instagram 

  • Cheese snacks brand Whisps is launching a new range of protein-packed snacks called Popped. FoodBev

  • Dr Smood, a purveyor of nutritious, clean label food and beverage products, is launching a new line of snack bars. Two flavors are available: Peanut Butter Cup and Lemon Caramel. Dr Smood

  • Mark Gallo pointed out an awesome yaupon iced tea brand called Freedom Fluid. Very fun packaging and mascot. Freedom Fluid 

Data 🖥️

  • Growth at PRIME continues to slow down considerably. For the four weeks ending on March 9th, volume was down 5%. A handful of people are already writing obituaries for PRIME which seems misguided and hasty. Twitter

Distribution News đźšš