Wild Common Scores $5M, Kelce Bros Bet on Beer 🍺

CPG WIRE
June 13, 2024

GM and Happy Thursday, folks. Here’s what we’re covering this morning:

Deals 💰

Mergers & Acquisitions

Jason & Travis Kelce now own a significant stake in Garage Beer, an Ohio-based beer brand and one of the fastest growing beer brands in the United States. The brothers will be involved in every aspect of the business, including brewing, distribution, sales, marketing, and national expansion efforts. Emerging beer brands are becoming a hot commodity again. Last month, Gallo acquired a stake in Montucky Cold Snacks for an undisclosed sum. PR Newswire
Neutral Foods, an Oregon-based purveyor of carbon neutral milk, is merging with Zeal Creamery, a Missouri-based producer of grass-fed dairy products. Bullish on both brands. PR Newswire
Hong Kong-based DayDayCook (DDC) has acquired Omsom, a popular Asian food brand that launched in 2020. DDC continues to build an impressive Asian food platform in the U.S — they already own Nona Lim and Yai’s Thai. NOSH
Spirits giant Diageo sold its majority stake in Guinness Nigeria for $70M. The buyer is Tolaram, a Singaporean conglomerate. Financial Times

Fundraising

Wild Common, a Wyoming-based agave spirits brand, secured $5M in funding from the early-stage venture arm of HighPost Capital. Wild Common was founded in 2021 by Andy Bardon. Business Wire
Actress Busy Philipps has invested in Behave, a better-for-you candy brand that launched in 2019. Behave refreshed their packaging late last year and retails at Erewhon, Wegmans, and hundreds of independent stores. Forbes
RationAle Brewing, a San Diego-based producer of non-alcoholic craft brews, raised funding from Bochi Investments. RationAle was co-founded by Jamie Fay & Wendy Pickett in 2021. Bochi’s other investments include ALOHA, GNGR Labs, Ketone IQ, Nectar Hard Seltzer, and others. LinkedIn
Collaborative Fund, a New York-based venture firm, raised $125M for its sixth flagship fund. Collaborative Fund invests in a wide variety of categories including consumer goods. Select CPG investments include Daily Harvest, Immi, OLIPOP, Zero Acre Farms, and many others. TechCrunch
Base Culture, a Florida-based producer of clean label, nutrient dense breads, secured nearly $2.7M in equity funding from undisclosed investors. Their products and packaging are terrific. SEC
Living Things, a UK-based better-for-you soda brand, raised £500K in pre-seed funding. The round was led by James Watt, the co-founder & former CEO of BrewDog. BevNET

Apparel, Cosmetics, and Wellness

Jake Paul officially launched W, his new personal care brand, with three products: body wash, body spray, and deodorant. The products are all priced below $10 and retail at Walmart. CNBC
Fast growing nutrition brand Bloom is tapping into the colostrum craze with their latest product — Colostrum & Collagen Peptides. Stack3d
Binaurale, a very fun fragrance brand from Miami, is making waves with its trippy packaging and imaginative scents. Beauty Independent
Body care brand Luna Daily launched a new range called Motherhood which is designed to support women’s bodies through pregnancy, post-birth, and beyond. The new range will be available at Sephora later this month. The Industry

Food, Beverage, and Alcohol

Spirit of Gallo teamed up with Hot Ones to launch a spicy vodka brand called Heat Check. Heat Check is available now at retailers across the country. The branding is pretty great IMO. The Spirits Business
Belgian Boys unveiled two new products: Griddle Pancakes and Bite-Sized Belgian Chocolate Chip Pancakes. Both products are available at select Target stores. PR Newswire
Non-alcoholic cocktail brand Mixoloshe has rebranded as SMASHD. The new name and brand identity are vast improvements. BevNET
Be Happy Snacks, the popcorn brand founded by the D’Amelio Family, introduced two new flavors — Himalayan Pink Salt and White Cheddar. PR Newswire
Cozumi, a purveyor of gut-friendly rice blends, unveiled a sleek packaging refresh ahead of two major retail launches. LinkedIn
Organic sparkling water brand Nixie launched its better-for-you soda range with three flavors: Classic Cola, Root Beer, and Ginger Ale. The new line will begin hitting shelves at major retailers throughout the summer. Twitter

Casamigos is expected to sell over 40 million bottles this year. When Diageo acquired them in 2017, they were selling around 1.2 million bottles. Twitter

Plant-based seafood brand Seed to Surf launched nationwide at Whole Foods Market.
Evergreen is now available at Central Market.
Sweety Ice Cream launched at select Walmart stores.
Cozumi is launching at Target and Whole Foods Market over the summer.
Resbiotic launched nationwide at GNC.