Starco Buys Another Brand 💰

Author

CPG WIRE
January 07, 2023

Good Morning and Happy Saturday, folks. Here's a preview of what we're covering this morning: 

  • Starco buys another brand 🕯️

  • Three beverage companies secure funding 💰

  • Oatly sells most of its manufacturing capacity 🥛

  • Function of Beauty launches more products at Target 🎯

The Big Story

Starco Brands, a Los Angeles firm that launches and acquires consumer brands, made its first acquisition of 2023 with Skylar, a clean fragrance brand. 

Founded in 2017 by Taiwanese American Cat Chen, Skylar is known for its hypoallergenic, eco-friendly perfumes and candles. In addition to their website, you can find their products at select retailers like Sephora and Nordstrom. 

Starco Brands is a bit of an oddity. Their scattered portfolio includes a vodka-infused whipped cream, Whipshots, and a popcorn seasoning spray, Winona Pure. Lately, however, it seems like they're building a personal care platform.

Last September they acquired Art of Sport (AOS), the popular personal care brand founded by the late Kobe Bryant and endorsed by the likes of James Harden & Juju Smith-Schuster. 

Acquiring two personal care brands in quick succession could of course be a coincidence — Starco seems to buy whatever they want regardless of category — but given that personal care products are more recession resistant than vodka-infused whipped cream, it wouldn't be a major surprise if they did in fact build a personal care platform. 

Deals

  • Concentrated cold brew brand Explorer raised $2.5m in seed funding. The round was co-led by NewBound Ventures and Table Management, Bill Ackman's family office. Cason Crane founded Explorer in Brooklyn in 2020. Great-looking products. Link

  • Craft cider brand Austin Eastciders secured $1.8m in fresh equity funding. Founded in Austin, TX in 2013, the brand last raised $5.7m in 2020. Link

  • Glowbar, a New York-based provider of 30-minute facials, announced $10m in growth funding from Peterson Partners. This space is heating up with Heyday raising an additional $12m in December of '22. Glowbar was founded by Rachel Liverman in 2019. Link

  • Oatly is selling most of its U.S. manufacturing capacity to YaYA Foods — a Canadian contract manufacturer — for around $98m. After a dismal 18 months as a public company, Oatly shares popped almost 20% after the deal was announced. Oatly, it seems, is great at marketing but bad at manufacturing, so they're focusing on their strengths. Link

  • Austin-based Seaside Ventures invested in Cove, a startup behind the world's first fully biodegradable water bottle. Their bottles are pretty striking. Cove is based in LA and their products are sold at Erewhon. Link

  • Bohana, a producer of popped water lily seed snacks, was acquired by Boon Distribution. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Bohana was founded in Boston in 2017. Link

  • UK-based beverage firm Global Brands Limited, the owner of mixers brand Franklin & Sons, acquired three beverage trademarks from Molson Coors. Link

  • Two NCAA basketball stars — Armando Bacot of UNC & Jeremy Roach of Duke — signed NIL deals with performance nutrition brand BOA. Both deals include equity in the company. Link

  • Reliance Retail, the Indian conglomerate mentioned in Wednesday's newsletter for their acquisition of Lotus Chocolate, made another CPG bet by buying a majority stake in Indian soft drink producer Sosyo Hajoori Beverages. Link

What's New...

  • Soon Siete Foods will launch a new line of sauces: Botana Sauces. The four SKUs will be available on their website and at select retailers. Siete has been churning out new products lately. Really impressive team. Link

  • Maison Francis Kurkdjian, a fragrance brand owned by LVMH, unveiled a luxury laundry detergent featuring its signature scents. $50/unit. Link

  • Alcohol delivery service Drizly partnered with non-alcoholic beverage retailer Boisson to bring more non-alc options to their marketplace. Link

  • Hydration brand Liquid IV introduced two limited edition mocktail flavors: Cucumber Mojito and Smoky Mezcal Paloma. Link

  • There's a new low & no alcohol wine brand from the south of France, Delure. Link

  • Low sugar snack brand HighKey launched a better-for-you version of the Oreo. It looks good! Link

Distribution Quickfire

  • Adaptogenic wellness brand Moon Juice launched their supplement & skincare lines at Ulta Beauty.

  • Custom haircare brand Function of Beauty will launch four of their styling products at Target.

  • Plant-based protein shake brand Grounded is now available at Whole Foods Market in the UK.

Personnel

  • Ugo Fiorenzo was named Managed Director for Campari Group US & Canada.

  • Stitch Fix CEO Elizabeth Spaulding resigned. Founder Katrina Lake will take over on interim basis.

  • Rebecca Scheidler was named SVP & GM of Consumer Foods at J.M. Smucker.

  • Amy Hauk resigned as CEO of Victoria's Secret after eight months.

  • CPG veteran Ken Young was named CEO of non-alc spirits brand Monday.

  • Cotopaxi founder & CEO Davis Smith will transition to the role of Chairman in July.

Thank you for reading along, we'll see you again Wednesday morning. If you find this newsletter interesting, please pass it along to others who might enjoy it.