This Week in CPG - Poppi and iNNBeauty Secure the Bag 💰

Happy Wednesday, folks! There's no Big Story this morning but we still have lots of exciting headlines to cover.

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Deals

• NotCo, the global plant-based meat & dairy startup that originated in Santiago, Chile, raised a massive $70m in funding. Princeville Capital led the round with participation from Bezos Expeditions, Tiger Global, L Catterton, and others. The new funding will enable NotCo to launch a B2B unit which will license its proprietary AI to other CPG firms. For whatever reason a consumer goods company dedicating resources to a B2B unit seems like a red flag, especially in light of the recent struggles at Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods. Link

• Unilever's India Division — Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) — acquired stakes in two Indian health & wellness brands: OZiva and Wellbeing Nutrition. HUL acquired 51% of OZiva and will purchase the remaining shares in 3 years, while it acquired 19.8% of Wellbeing Nutrition. The latter is a pretty beautiful brand, particularly their Marine Collagen. Link

• New York-based clean & affordable skincare brand iNNBeauty Project secured $12m in Series B funding. The round was led by Alliance Consumer Growth (ACG) with participation from existing investors Strand Equity and Beechwood Capital. iNNBeauty was founded by Alisa Metzger and Jen Shane in 2019. Their products are available at all Sephora stores. Link

• Shanghai-based Lanvin Group, the luxury fashion group that owns Lanvin, Sergio Rossi, Wolford, St. John, and a handful of other brands, will go public via SPAC on December 15 after shareholders approved the business combination. Lanvin Group will trade on the NYSE under LANV. Link

• Italian eyewear manufacturer De Rigo purchased the eyewear division of Germany's Rodenstock. The license for Porsche Design Eyewear was included in the purchase. Link

• CBD skincare & wellness brand Prima acquired Prospect Farms, a large hemp farm and producer of CBD tinctures from Maine. Prima and Prospect Farms — which will now operate as Uplifter Brands — will launch a CBD pet health brand with Brooke Shields early next year. Prima sells some stunning products. Link

• Toast Ale, a London-based brewer that fights food waste by turning surplus bread into beer, raised around $2.4m from Heineken International, National Geographic Society, and former Unilever CEO Paul Polman. Link

• Prebiotic soda brand Poppi secured $25m in funding led by CAVU Consumer Partners. Thus far CAVU has led every round of funding for Poppi so they have anywhere from $30-40m tied up in one company. Seems like an awful lot. Perhaps it's just conviction but it's a little peculiar given that there are no other institutional investors on the cap table. Link

What's New...

• Sparkling water brand Spindrift announced their new flavors for 2023 and they all sound delicious: Mango Black Tea, Peach Strawberry, Mint Green Tea, and Mojito. Link

• Haircare brand OUAI launched an Anti-Dandruff Shampoo. Link

• Brewing giant AB InBev is reportedly launching a new canned booze brand, Noon Shine. Shout-out to Mark Gallo, a great follow on Twitter, for the scoop! Link

• Skincare brand The Ordinary opened its first store in Australia. Link

• Stripes, the menopausal wellness brand founded by Naomi Watts and biotech company Amyris, unveiled a beautiful new haircare product. Link

• Hydration brand BioSteel is now the official hydration partner of fitness studio franchise F45. Link

• Influencer Valeria Lipovetsky launched a new fashion label, Valeria. Link

Distribution Quickfire

• Men's grooming brand Bevel is now available at Ulta Beauty.

• Performance beverage brand TapOut launched at Publix in five states.

• PRIME Hydration, the beverage brand founded by Logan Paul & KSI, hit shelves at Circle K Canada.

• Dermatologist-formulated skincare brand Curology launched at Target.

• Candy brand Chili Chews is now available at 7-Eleven in Oklahoma, Texas, and Utah.

• Shanghai-based spirits company Peddlers Gin Co. launched at Spiritly in the UK & Ireland.

• Cravings by Chrissy Teigen launched its Banana Bread at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.