This Week in CPG - Saturday Edition

Author

CPG WIRE
October 01, 2022

Happy Saturday, folks. Since it's the weekend and those are scarce, let's dive in...

The Big Story

The sexual wellness category has been on a hot streak for the past 18 months. Thanks to the determination and vision of a handful of founders, products once relegated to dark, wretched sex shops -- lubricants, vibrators, plugs, arousal serums, etc. -- now grace the shelves of department stores like Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom.

Reticent Category Managers at Walmart and CVS have warmed and opened their arms as well. Perhaps most importantly, at least as a leading indicator, venture money has poured in. 

That hot streak continued this week with a couple of big fundraising announcements: 

  • Dame, a sexual wellness brand founded by Alexandra Fine in 2014, raised $7m in Series A funding. Amboy Street Ventures led.

  • Cake, a sexual wellness brand founded in 2018 by Hunter Morris and Mitch Orkis, raised $8m from Silas Capital, Lerer Hippeau, Selva Ventures, Bullish, and Finn Capital Partners.

Though it's still early days for these new wave sexual wellness brands, the market opportunity is massive: 

Deals

  • Japanese cosmetics giant Shiseido acquired Gallinee, a London-based, microbiome-focused skincare brand founded by Dr. Marie Drago. Link

  • Singer-songwriter Dua Lipa invested in Dizziak, a stunning body & hair care brand founded in London in 2018. Link

  • Spirits giant Diageo acquired Mr. Black, an Aussie cold brew coffee liqueur brand. It's the fastest growing coffee liqueur brand in the world. Diageo previously invested in Mr. Black via Distill Ventures. Link

  • Caraway, a NYC-based kitchenware & home goods brand founded in 2019, raised $35m from Omaha's McCarthy Capital. Link 

  • Sustainable bottled water brand PATH announced $30m in funding led by Altos Ventures. HartBeat Ventures, Guy Fieri, Ninja (gamer), and Ryan Seacrest also joined. Link 

  • Detroit-based beauty brand The Lip Bar raised $6.7m led by Pendulum. Endeavor and The Fearless Fund also participated. Link

  • LA-based body and personal care brand Necessaire raised an undisclosed amount of funding from CAVU Consumer Partners. Necessaire expects $35m in sales this year. Link

  • Hard pressed juice brand Pulp Culture raised $7m in Series A funding. The round was co-led by The Kale Fund, Vibrant Ventures, and Roger Lienhard. Link 

  • Consumer HoldCo Tenth Avenue Holdings acquired Under Your Skin, a Swedish skincare brand founded in 2016 by mother-daughter team Christina & Lovisa Hahn. Link

Distribution Quickfire

  • The Pizza Cupcake from Shark Tank launched at Walmart. It looks far better than I would've imagined...website here.

  • Pattern Beauty, the haircare brand from Tracee Ellis Ross, launched online at Cult Beauty. FWIW their displays at Target are stunning.

  • Apparel brand Vuori launched in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Mexico, and The Middle East. $400m from SoftBank FTW.

  • Nosotros Tequila & Mezcal will be distributed by RNDC in California.

  • Hydration Sticks from PRIME Hydration (Logan Paul & KSI) launched at Walmart.

  • Pardon My Fro and Horizon Beauty Group will launch their haircare collaboration at Walmart. More from Beauty Independent here.

What's New...

  • Molson Coors & Coca-Cola will launch a line of canned cocktails under the Topo Chico banner. I imagine these will do quite well. Link

  • Mexican professional boxer Canelo Alvarez launched a canned tequila cocktail brand, VMC.

  • SKKN BY KIM, Kim Kardashian's skincare brand, expanded into homeware.

  • Running brand Tracksmith rolled out its first running shoe, The Eliot Runner. Looks great.

  • Beautiful new menopausal wellness brand, StellaVia. By 2025, more than one billion women are expected to have entered menopause. Website here.

  • Luxury skincare brand 111SKIN collaborated with luxury hospitality brand Aman on some limited edition products. 

  • PRIME Hydration launched some Hydration Sticks. Likely bound to be very popular.

Personnel

  • Daniel Lee has been appointed Chief Creative Officer at Burberry.

  • Nathalie Berger Duquene is now SVP of Balmain Beauty at Estee Lauder.

  • SPANX has promoted Kim Jones to CEO.

  • Acclaimed chef Dominique Crenn joined cell-based dairy startup Turtletree as Food Innovation Advisor.

  • Kimberly-Clark appointed Andrea Zahumensky to lead its North American Personal Care Portfolio (Huggies, Depend, etc.).

  • Jeny Stoichkova named President of Global Ventures at Coca-Cola.

And that's all for today. See you again on Wednesday.

All the best, 

Robbie @ CPG Wire