This Week in CPG - Wednesday Edition

Good Morning and Happy Wednesday. To those of you attending Expo East later today, good luck!  

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Let's dive in...

Deals

• Snack brand Muddy Bites raised $5m in funding from Reformation Partners and a number of CPG founders & operators like Peter Rahal (RXBAR founder), Sam McBride (RXBAR COO), and Scott Semel (barkTHINS founder). Link

• Sexual wellness brand Cake raised $8m from the likes of Silas Capital, Lerer Hippeau, Bullish, Selva Ventures, and Finn Capital Partners. Link

• CKBG, the owner of Tequila Komos and tequila cocktail brand Superbird, secured $15m in funding. No details on who invested but it's unrelated to Gallo's investment last month. Link

• Consumer brand aggregator Monolith Brands raised a whopping $230m in funding ($50m equity, $180m debt). The company currently owns 11 brands and operates in the baby, pet, and personal care categories. Link 

• Home goods holding company Pattern Brands acquired Onsen Towel. Link

• Fort Worth-based personal care brand Supply has been acquired by Foundry Brands. An exciting exit for bootstrapped founders. Link

• Dai, a London-based sustainable womenswear brand, raised $2m during its crowdfunding campaign. Closed Loop Partners and Redrice Ventures also participated. Link

• Chubby Snacks, the startup that's taking on J.M. Smucker with a better-for-you Uncrustable, raised $3.5m. Investors include 444 Capital (D'Amelio family), Villam Ventures (RXBAR founder Jared Smith's family office), Patrick Schwarzenegger, and Jake Kassan (MVMT founder). Link

What's New...

• Popular food blogger Alex Snodgrass announced that she's launching a new salad dressing brand, SideDish. Big fan of the branding. More on their Instagram.

• Estee Lauder and BALMAIN will co-develop a line of beauty, skincare, and fragrance products. More here.

• Prebiotic soda brand OLIPOP launched a stunning Cherry Cola SKU. I haven't tried it yet but somehow they always manage to nail flavor *and* packaging. Beautiful can.

• Bobbi Brown's latest venture Jones Road Beauty launched a new skincare product, The Cleansing Stick.

•  Truff launched a white truffle infused olive oil.

• Austin's NadaMoo! launched a great looking line of Frozen Snack Bites. Based on the success of TruFru and Dream Pops, it appears consumers are more interested in snackable indulgences than tubs of ice cream. Tubs of ice cream will be just fine, though.

• NYC Italian restaurant Rubirosa launched a line of sauces.

• AriZona Iced Tea and Marvel collaborated on a new hydration beverage brand, Super LXR Hero Hydration. It looks much better than I would've predicted. Curious to learn if this is a marketing stunt or a brand AriZona is willing to invest in.

• New accelerator in California for no and low alcohol brands, The Ardent Company. Link

• New RTD vodka cocktail brand called Vodka Salad...

Distribution Quickfire

• Skincare brand Naturium is launching exclusively at Space NK in the UK with 14 SKUs.

• Hustle Clean launched its Muscle Melt + Relief Soak at 1,500 Target locations.

• Experiment Beauty launched their face mask online at Urban Outfitters.

• Hibiscus water brand Ruby expanded to all Whole Foods stores in the northeast.

• Muddy Bites launched at BJ's Wholesale Club.

• Tortilla brand Maria & Ricardo's will hit shelves at Sprouts, Shoprite, and Wegmans.

• K Beauty brand Missha launched at Saks.

• Multigenerational skincare brand Evereden will be available at 100+ Sephora stores internationally.

Personnel

• Footwear brand Atoms has a new CEO in co-founder Sidra Qasim.

• Chobani just hired Kevin Bishop as SVP of International Market Development.

• Justin Boxford is now Global Brand President at Estee Lauder.

• Sportswear brand Gymshark hired Asos CFO & COO Mat Dunn to be its next CFO.

Miscellaneous 

• Terrific podcast with FIGS co-founder & CEO Trina Spear. Very refreshing to hear Spear's emphasis on product, product, product. Link

That's it for today! Thank you for reading and see you again Saturday morning. If you feel like a particular story should be featured in the Saturday edition, feel free to email me.

Best,

Robbie @ CPG Wire