The Consumer Roundup #52
Welcome to The Consumer VC, a newsletter about venture capital and consumer. If you aren’t subscribed, come and subscribe below.
Hey Friends,
I’m starting to partner and co-host more coffee events in select cities (see below the ones coming up this month). If you live outside these cities and want to co-host a Consumer VC meetup, let’s chat. I’ll also soon have more info about what I’m planning for Expo West and SXSW. First, here’s a quick word from our sponsor –
This issue is brought to you by Propeller Industries.
Propeller Industries is the leading strategic finance and accounting partner for venture-stage companies. Thinking about profitability, extending your runway, and improving efficiency in your operations? Managing your company’s finances requires multiple skill sets. Propeller’s fractional model offers a dynamic solution that provides a cost-effective alternative to hiring full-time finance talent.
Events
📆 Webinar - Omnichannel Commerce Summit
Join us today, Wednesday, January 17th at 1pm PST. I’ll be chatting with Paul Voge, Co-Founder/CEO of Aura Bora where we will be chatting about how he expanded from DTC To Wholesale.
We will be discuss:
How he first got into retail
How to research and craft your story for different retailers
The changes in retail buying overthe past 4 years
How to leverage retail data
His view of the DTC channel in beverage
Process for launching new SKUs & more
☕️ Consumer Brews - New York City
📆 When? January 25th 9am-10:30am EST
Sumeet Shah from VHS Ventures and the team at Manufactured are throwing a coffee meetup in NYC. It’s something Sumeet and I have been chatting about for a while and our hope is it becomes a reoccurring morning meetup to help bring the NYC consumer community together. We’re delighted to also be partnering with dash.fi on this one.
☕️ Wake Up! CPG - Austin, TX
📆 When? January 25th 8:30am-10:30am CST
If you’re in Austin – Marc Nathan throws an awesome monthly CPG meetup. I haven’t been, but the guy might be the OG of CPG coffee meetups. He’s been doing it for years and I’ve heard from quite a few folks it’s a great time…I even heard that some people drive up from San Antonio just to go.
☕️ DTC Morning Coffee - Los Angeles, CA
📆 When? January 31st 8am-11am PST
It’s been awesome partnering with Cole Shapiro on these event since Spring 2023. I’m excited to kick off the New Year with this one.
All of these events are brought to you by Manufactured. Manufactured helps brands with inventory financing and optimizing their COGs. If you’re a growing brand and looking for inventory financing as your expand, Talk To Us Here.
On to our fundraising update ––––
Deals & Debuts
💾 Consumer Software 💾
Finn, a Munich-based startup that has created a platform for new car subscriptions, instead of purchasing or leasing a car, raised a $109 million Series C that values the company at $658 million. The round was led by Planet First Partners with participation from HV Capital, Korelya Capital, UVC Partners, White Star Capital and Picus Capital - TechCrunch
Overmoon, the vacation rental startup that owns the properties instead of being a marketplace, announced that it raised a $10 million round in 2021 from NFX, Khosla Ventures, Camber Creek, 1Sharpe and Sunsar Capital. The company has also raised a $30 million round from real estate investors and raised $40 million in real estate debt last year - TechCrunch
Bevvy, the Scotland-based whiskey discovery platform, raised $1.5 million seed round from Scotland-based angel investors, existing shareholders and a Denver based family office - PR Newswire
🛍️ Consumer Brands // Inventory-Based Businesses 🛍️
GolfForever, which is an at-home training system for golfers to improve their swing, raised $10 million Series A led by Clerisy, with participation from golf superstars Scottie Scheffler, and Tom Kim - Business Wire
🛒 Ecommerce & Retail Technology 🏪
Sway, which is building a “customer-centric” delivery and returns platform for ecommerce sellers and customers, raised a $19.5 million Series A led by 7GC & Co - PYMNTS
💰M&A & PE💰
Wolverine World Wide, the footwear and apparel company whose brands includes Saucony and Merrill, sells Sperry to Authentic Brands Group for $130 million. Wolverine originally acquired Sperry in 2012 for $1.23 billion from Collective Brands - CNBC
Kering, the French luxury group whose brands include Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Yves Saint Laurent, acquired 30% of Valentino with an option to take over the whole brand within five years - Business of Fashion
Puig, the Spanish fashion and fragrance company, acquired a majority stake in Dr. Barbara Sturm, the German luxury skincare brand. Terms were not disclosed - Business of Fashion
Nutpods, the dairy-free alternative creamer brand, was acquired by MPearlRock. Terms were not disclosed. MPearlRock is a partnership between Kroger’s venture capital arm PearlRock Partners and private equity firm MidOcean Partners - Food Business News
Next Level Burger, the Oregan-based plant-based burger chain that currently has 10 locations in 6 states, acquired Veggie Grill, the fast-casual vegan restaurant chain that has 17 locations in 6 states. With this acquisition, this values the company at $80 million with 27 total locations - Nation's Restaurant News
🔻Shut Downs🔻
Drizly, the alcohol delivery app that was bought by Uber for $1.1 billion is shutting down. Uber is consolidating all its delivery services to the Uber Eats app, including alcohol (Drizly) and groceries (Cornershop) - CNN