The Consumer Roundup #34
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Hey Friends,
Hope you had a great long weekend. I’m really excited to see everyone who is attending Expo East next week. Here are a couple of things coming up –
📆 This week, I’m MCing a webinar about The State of Emerging CPG Food Brands in Today's Market this Thursday, (9/14) at 12 pm PST featuring:
Kristy Lewis, Founder/CEO of Quinn Snacks
Will Nitze, Founder/CEO of IQ Bar
Cessna Mac, Principal at Amberstone
Erica Bethe Levin, Founder/CEO of Globowl
You can RSVP To Webinar Here.
📆 If you’re headed to Expo East – I’m co-hosting a coffee meet-up on Thursday, September 21st from 8-10 am. This should be a lot of fun
You can RSVP To 9/21 Philly Coffee Meetup Here
Here are the latest consumer fundraises from the past week.
Consumer Brands
Butternut Box, the healthy dog food brand that uses “human quality” ingredients, raised $354 million from General Atlantic and L Catterton - TechCrunch
Meati, the company that produces mushroom-based meat alternatives, raised a $50 million Series C extension round from Bond, Congruent Ventures, and Revolution Growth - Axios
SkinnyDipped, the snack company that makes lightly dipped nuts, raised $12 million Series A led by David Grutman with participation from Amy Schumer, Mark Wahlberg, Becky G, Post Malone, Tan France, Odell Beckham Jr., Frances Tiafoe, Alesso, Kevin Durant, Kaskade, Steve Aoki, and Marshmello - TechCrunch
Draper James, the clothing line founded by Reese Witherspoon, sells 70% and a controlling interest to private equity group CBP - Glossy
Consumer Software
Ello, the AI-powered reading coach that aims to end child illiteracy, raised $15 million Series A led by Goodwater Capital with participation from Homebrew, Reed Hastings, Common Sense Growth, and Ravensburger - Globe Newswire
Point.me, the search engine that helps you book your travel based on your flight rewards and points, raised $10 million Series A led by Thayer Ventures with participation from PAR Capital Ventures, RiverPark Ventures, Plug and Play Ventures, and MoreThanCapital - TechCrunch
Delphi, which is creating the AI clone that can mimic your personality, how you write, how you talk, raised $2.7 million led by Founders Fund with participation from Lux Capital, Xfund, MVP Ventures, and SaxeCap - Venture Beat
Firstcart, which creates financial products – including their credit card “Credit Builder Card” – to help college students build credit, raised a $4.7 million seed round from AngelList Early Stage Quant Fund, CyberAgent Capital, East Venture and Keisuke Honda - TechCrunch
Takes, the AI-powered sports social media platform, raised a $1.6 million seed round led by Riccardo Silva, with participation from Carlo Pozzali, Astralis Capital, and Joe Inzerillo - FinSMEs
eCommerce & Retail Tech
Paptic, the Finnish startup that produces sustainable packaging materials, raised $24.72 million co-led by European Circular Bioeconomy Fund and Ecolab - Paptic
Treyd, the Swedish fintech startup that helps retailers pay suppliers with their “sell first, pay suppliers later” platform, raised $12 million Series A led by Nineyards Equity with participation from Antler, Zenith VC, and J12 Ventures - Tech.eu
M&A
J.M. Smucker is set to acquire Hostess Brands, maker of the Twinkie, for $5.6 billion - J.M. Smucker