Spindrift Launches Soda Line, Protein Pints Grabs $2M 🍦

Author

CPG WIRE
February 25, 2025

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

  • Core Home buys BUBLUV 🧋

  • Blind Barber secures $1.7M 💈

  • Olaplex teases brand refresh 🔑

  • Quest Nutrition ups the ante 🤯

  • Throne Sport Coffee x Life Time ☕️

Deals 💰

Mergers & Acquisitions 

  • Better-for-you boba tea brand BUBLUV has been acquired by Core Home, a diversified brand owner and operator. Core Home is based in New York and owns over 20 houseware brands. I believe the BUBLUV acquisition is their first true food and beverage play. PR Newswire

  • Pro-aging skincare brand PRAI Beauty was acquired by Luxury Brands LLC and The Dodo Group. Founder and CEO Cathy Kangas will continue to lead the brand. Luxury Brands LLC also owns FHI Heat, STLYUS, NEO BOND, and a handful of other brands. WWD

Fundraising

  • Protein Pints, a Michigan-based purveyor of high-protein ice cream, raised nearly $2M in funding from ACG Venture Capital, Red Cedar Ventures, and a handful of undisclosed investors. Protein Pints was co-founded by Paul Reiss and Michael Meadows in 2022. The brand retails at Meijer, Sprouts, and select Albertsons stores. A number of upstarts are vying to be the protein ice cream brand. In addition to Protein Pints, there’s New York-based Smearcase and Arizona-based Natty Ice Cream. SEC

  • Norwegian spirits company The Island Rum Company secured an undisclosed amount of funding from five private investors. The company will use the funding to scale distribution and invest in brand marketing. Just Drinks

  • New York-based Blind Barber closed a $1.7M seed funding round. The company sells a wide variety of personal care products including shampoo, conditioner, soap, shaving foam, etc. The packaging is pretty sleek. BeautyMatter

What’s New 🤩

Apparel, Cosmetics, and Wellness

  • Sakara Life just launched a great-looking supplements range with four SKUs. The new range includes a liquid multivitamin, metabolism bites, liquid fulvic acid, and a sleep support supplement. WWD

  • Francesco Ragazzi, the co-founder of Palm Angels which was recently acquired by Bluestar Alliance, just launched a high-end fragrance brand called Réservation. The fragrance brand offers seven unique scents that will be available on Violet Grey starting on March 3rd. The packaging is elegant and understated but doesn’t feel fully fleshed out yet. Business of Fashion

  • Chapter two of the Beyoncé x Levi’s collaboration was just released. The commercial is a nod to a Levi’s ad campaign from 1991 and includes the great Timothy Olyphant. Instagram

  • Olaplex, the once high-flying haircare brand whose market cap fell from $18B in 2022 to less than $1B today, is preparing to unveil a brand refresh along with new products. Amanda Baldwin, Olaplex’s newish CEO and the former CEO of Supergoop, believes the refreshed brand identity is a good first step in turning the brand around. WWD

Food, Beverage, and Alcohol

  • Spindrift is entering the better-for-you soda race with five flavors: Concord Freeze, Ginger Ale, Orange Cream Float, Shirley Temple, and Strawberry Shortcake. The new soda line looks great and Spindrift has the brand equity to successfully pull off this category expansion, but it seems more like a soda-inspired sparkling water range instead of an actual soda. Curious how it performs 👇 PR Newswire

  • Quest Nutrition just had their mic drop moment and launched a new protein shake line featuring an impressive 45g of protein. When Koia launched their Elite range earlier this year, I thought 32g of protein was the ceiling for the foreseeable future, but I was 100% wrong. Quest just raised the bar yet again. Stack3d

  • Mas+ by Messi is now the Official Hydration Partner of Inter Miami. Legendary footballer Lionel Messi launched the hydration beverage with Mark Anthony Brands last year. In addition to selling the beverage at games, Mas+ coolers and towels will be displayed throughout the stadium. Miami Herald

  • LEXINGTON BAKES launched their new Chilled Oat Bar line. Two flavors are currently available at Lazy Acres. Very excited to try these at Expo West. Twitter

  • UK-based non-alcoholic wine brand Noughty unveiled a new look along with some tactile wine labels. BevNET

  • Doughlicious expanded beyond the freezer aisle with a new range of ready-to-eat cookies. The ambient, single-serve cookies look pretty good. Vegan Food & Living

  • Utah-based Clean Simple Eats (CSE) launched a new RTD protein soda line. Each can contains 20g of ultra-filtered whey protein isolate. You’ll be able to try this at Expo West if you’re going. BevNET

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Data 🖥️

  • Hims & Hers reported stellar Q4 results. Revenue increased 95% year-over-year to $481M while adjusted EBITDA surged 451% to $54.1M. The company’s subscriber base also jumped 45% to 2.2M. Twitter

Distribution News 🚚