This Week in CPG - $2.8B for Tom Ford

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CPG WIRE
November 16, 2022

Welcome back to This Week in CPG, folks.

The biggest piece of news thus far this week is that Estee Lauder pulled the trigger and acquired Tom Ford for a mammoth $2.8B. Link

It might seem like an unconventional fit for Estee Lauder — Tom Ford is known first and foremost as a luxury fashion house — but as the longstanding licensee and producer of Tom Ford Beauty, Estee Lauder believes in its fragrance & makeup lines enough to pay the premium for it.

In fact, Estee Lauder is really only interested in Tom Ford Beauty. Tom Ford's apparel line will be licensed to Zegna, while Tom Ford eyewear will be licensed to another Italian firm, Marcolin.

Deals

  • Greek yogurt bar maker Clio raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Alliance Consumer Growth, Maria Sharapova, and NBA MVP candidate Jayson Tatum. Founded by Sergey Konchakovskiy in 2015, Clio first partnered with AGC in 2017. Link

  • Supermodel Sara Sampaio acquired a minority stake in PHUNK, a Portuguese hard seltzer brand with global ambitions. Sampaio will also be Chief Innovation Officer moving forward. PHUNK is a fun brand! Link

  • UK-based non-alc beer brand Big Drop Brewing raised £2.2m on crowdfunding platform Seedrs. Big Drop recently announced a partnership with Destihl who will produce and sell its products in the US. Link

  • SHORE — a Scottish producer of seaweed snacks & broths — announced an additional six figures in funding from existing investors. Great-looking products that are getting a lot of retail exposure in the UK. Link

  • UK-based prebiotic granola & porridge brand Bio&Me secured £1.6m in funding from entrepreneur Giles Brook. The company raised a £1.4m round from the likes of Giles Brook and Harry Kane earlier this year. Link

  • Poppilu, a low sugar lemonade brand that was founded in Chicago in 2017, was acquired by American Beverage Company, the owner of the SUNNY D. Poppilu was founded by CPG veteran Melanie Kahn. Link

  • Charlotte-based EARI Beverage Group — the owner of Original New York Seltzer and a handful of other beverage brands — acquired Madre Agave, a premium agave wine brand (not to be confused with Madre Mezcal). Link 

  • Austin-based HumanCo, an investor & acquirer of better-for-you consumer brands, partnered with Grove Collaborative, the eco-friendly household cleaning company. In short, HumanCo will fund synergistic M&A for Grove to the tune of $100m. Link

  • Australian skincare brand Alya Skin was acquired by Frostbland, an APAC beauty distributor. Alya Skin was founded in 2018 by Manny Barbas and James Hachem. Link

  • Vow, an Australian cultured meat startup, raised a whopping $49.2m co-led by Blackbird VC and Prosperity7 Ventures. Vow's first product, a cultured umami quail, will launch into Singapore restaurants later this year. Link 

What's New...

  • Yesterday sweetgreen launched its drive-thru concept, sweetlane, in Illinois. Link

  • Dan Katz AKA Big Cat of Barstool Sports fame launched a new coffee brand, Stella Blue Coffee Company. Will be interesting to see how this brand performs. Barstool does incredibly well with seltzers & spirits, but coffee is obviously a different beast. Link

  • Experiment Beauty, the skincare brand founded by Lisa Guerrera, unveiled a new barrier support serum called Super Saturated. One of the best product pages I've seen in awhile. Link

  • Jessica Biel's children's wellness brand KinderFarms launched KinderMed, a line of OTC medicines with clean label ingredients. Link

  • Prebiotic iced tea brand Halfday introduced a seasonal flavor: Cranberry Iced Tea. Link

  • New Zealand-based non-alc cocktail brand Curious AF will open an alc-free "liquor" store. In addition to their products they'll also sell brands like Ghia and Kin Euphorics. Link 

  • LA-based grocer Erewhon partnered with Perelel on a co-branded line of supplements. Link

  • Oatly slashed full-year revenue forecasts, missed earnings, and plans to cut headcount. Curious if going asset-light AKA utilizing co-packers will save its skin. Link

Distribution Quickfire

  • Low sugar, nootropic soda brand Perfy launched at Lassens in CA.

  • Eco-friendly cleaning brand Blueland launched their toilet cleaner at Costco in the SF Bay Area.

  • Oakland's Voyage Foods announced that their Peanut-Free Spread is now available at Sprouts.

  • Planet Based Foods launched two of their plant-based taquito SKUs at Kroger.

  • UK-based sparkling water brand DASH Water is now available at 800 Coles stores in Australia.

  • Premium pet nutrition brand Bundle x Joy launched at Whole Foods Market and Sprouts.

That's it for today. See you again Saturday morning!

All the best,

Robbie @ CPG Wire