In This Issue:
- Food Venture Financing Trends
- CPG Corporate Venture and Private Equity Funds
- Links to Relevant Content and Events
Food Venture Financing Trends
- Monster Beverage Corporation announced that it plans to acquire CANarchy Craft Brewery Collective LLC, a hard seltzer and craft beer company, for $330 million.
- Yumi, a baby and children's food startup, announced that it raised $67 million in its Series B round. The company plans to use the funds to expand and sell its products in retail stores.
- Smithfield Foods announced a new goal to reduce food loss and waste 50% by 2030 in its U.S. operations. Smithfield Foods has joined the USDA and EPA U.S. Food Loss and Waste 2030 Champions list of business and organizations with this new commitment.
- CPG companies face an uncertain 2022 with supply chain disruptions, higher inflation, labor shortages, and increased consumer demand. General Mills recently noted that it increased the prices of some of its products by 20% this month.
CPG Corporate Venture and Private Equity Funds
This week's featured program is Unilever Ventures.
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- Unilever Ventures, founded in 2003, is the venture capital arm of Unilever, based in London.
- Unilever Ventures empowers a new breed of forward-thinking entrepreneurs to help them build strong brands or technology solutions in the consumer products industry.
- Their large and diversified portfolio includes:
- Beauty & Wellness: Beauty Bakerie, BlowLTD, BYBI, Curlsmith, True Botanicals
- Commerce: Gousto, Instacart, Shop 101, FabFitFun, Grabango, Grove Collaborative
Links to Relevant Content and Events
ARTICLES
- 2021 AgTech M&A Annual Review
- AgroScout Acquires the Assets of TerrAvion to Broaden Its Imagery Data Management for Agriculture
- Sibling Founding Team Fuses Tech and Farm Roots to Land $2.2 Million For Agriculture IoT Startup
- Food Tech's Newest Unicorn Flipdish Hits $1.25 Billion Valuation After Raising C.$100 Million
- Puratos and ReGrained Enter Partnership for Upcycled Bakery Innovation
- Spring Lane Capital Congratulates Atlas Organics, One of the Firm's Inaugural Investments, on New Financing
- Monster Beverage Corporation to Acquire CANarchy Craft Brewery Collective
- Yumi Adds $67 Million to Its Coffers in a Female-Led Fundraise to Drive Product Development, Channel Expansion
- Smithfield Foods Commits to Reduce Food Loss and Waste 50% by 2030
- CPGs Grapple With a Murky 2022 Outlook as Inflation, Supply Chain Weigh on Operations
EVENTS & OPPORTUNITIES
Naturally Bay Area's 2021 Quick Bites Series:
Diversify the Shelf: How POC-Owned Brands Can Win at Retail
Wednesday, January 19, 12:00 - 12:45 p.m. PST
The demand for grocery store products representative of today's shoppers is rapidly growing. Join this Quick Bites panel discussion about the opportunity for retailers to diversify the grocery shelf with products shoppers can better relate to.
Dianna Tremblay, Naturally Bay Area Board Member and Chief Program Officer at ICA, will lead our panel discussion with:
- Ibraheem Basir, Founder & CEO of A Dozen Cousins
- Thuy Nguyen, Forager at Good Eggs
- Subriana Pierce, Managing Partner at Navigator Sales & Marketing
Naturally Bay Area's 2021 Quick Bites Series:
What to Expect in the 2022 Food & Beverage M&A Market
Please see below for a link to Naturally Bay Area's Quick Bites webinar on 2022 Food & Beverage M&A Market Trends recorded on January 12, 2022.
At DWT, we are proud to have one of the largest Food + Beverage legal practices in the country, with over 40 attorneys representing food innovators, entrepreneurs, and investors at every level of the food chain, from Farm to Label.
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DWT will continue to provide up-to-date insights and virtual events regarding COVID-19 concerns. Our most recent insights, as well as information about recorded and upcoming virtual events, are available at www.dwt.com/COVID-19.