TWG Buys Another Vineyard 🍷

CPG WIRE
January 28, 2023

GM and Happy Saturday, folks. We're light on deals this morning but we still have lots to cover. Here's a quick preview:

Deals 💰

Mergers & Acquisitions

Zegna Group acquired a minority stake in Norda Run, a premium running shoe brand from Canada. Norda Run was founded by husband-and-wife team Nick & Willa Leus-Martire. Their shoes are stunning. Link
Livermore-based The Wine Group (TWG) — the third largest wine company in the world and the owner of Franzia and Cupcake Vineyards — acquired a 1,300 acre collection of vineyards known as Paicines Vineyards. Link
Botanical spirits brand AMASS acquired a few different assets from WINC, the DTC wine club that filed for bankruptcy in December. First, they acquired WINC's wine portfolio, including brands like Summer Water Rose, Pizzolato Prosecco, and Biokult Organic Wines. Second, they acquired WINC's e-commerce and marketing tech. Link
Clean label baby formula brand ByHeart acquired another manufacturing facility. Earlier this month they also acquired Cascadia Nutrition, an FDA-registered packaging & blending facility. Becoming a vertically-integrated formula producer makes a lot of sense, especially with tariffs for imported formula returning. Link

Fundraising

Speakeasy Company, an e-commerce platform for alcohol brands, raised $6.8m led by InvestBev. Speakeasy helps brands like WhistlePig, Tesla Tequila, and Stoli sell online. Link
Atlanta-based brain health brand Parable raised $2.75m in funding. Investors include M13 and Break Trail Ventures. Surprised there aren't more "braincare" brands. Link

Actress Tia Mowry of Sister, Sister is launching a new haircare brand — 4UByTia — on Monday. 4UByTia is a natural haircare brand for curly hair. Great-looking products, especially when compared to fellow celeb John Legend's new skincare brand. Link
TALEA Beer Co. partnered with Billion Oyster Project to launch a charitable Oyster Stout. All proceeds will be donated to Billion Oyster Project, a nonprofit on a mission to restore oyster reefs in New York Harbor. Another absolutely beautiful can from TALEA. Link
Eyebrow expert Kristie Streicher launched a clean brow care brand — KS&CO. Link
Native Pet unveiled an an excellent brand refresh. The refresh was done by Uncommon, the in-house creative agency of CAVU Consumer Partners. Native's Omega Oil might be the best-looking pet care product out there. Link
There's a new performance sock brand, Outway Socks. Not sure how they stack up against Stance, but the socks do look solid. Link
Per CEW, Olaplex is launching their first-ever dry shampoo on January 31st. Link
Japanese brewer Kirin will begin producing cosmetics packaging from beer byproduct. Link
Clean beauty brand RMS Beauty introduced a new line of lip products — Liplights. Link

Drizly revealed the best-selling celebrity spirits brands on its platform. The only major surprise is that Teremana, The Rock's tequila brand, came in as the ninth best-selling tequila. For all the hype, that seems low. Link
2022 revenue at Fever-Tree was up 11% to $426.9m. Link
Gen Z consumers are skipping deodorant...Link
Topo Chico Hard Seltzer and Simply Spiked combined for $287m in revenue last year. A pretty good outcome for the Coca-Cola x Molson Coors JV. Topo Chico is the fourth-largest hard seltzer brand in the US. Link
New Belgium, the owner of Fat Tire and Voodoo Ranger, surpassed 1.2m barrels in 2022. Link

Skincare brand Neostrata rolled out at select Target stores.
Canned wheatgrass brand MaKa launched nationwide at Sprouts.
Heyday Canning now available nationwide at Whole Foods.
Black-owned haircare brand Uncle Funky's Daughter will launch at Target.
Sexual wellness brand Bloomi now available at Target and Saks.
Sustainable dog food brand Petaluma launched at Erewhon.
Sugar-free ice cream brand Killer Creamery launched at Albertsons.