Economy
03 October 2022
Dealboard: Water brands raise funding, DTC acquisitions
Here's a look at funding and M&A news in ecommerce and consumer goods.

Here's a look at funding and M&A news in ecommerce and consumer goods.
Welcome to Dealboard. In this weekly feature, The Current is providing a look at the mergers, acquisitions and venture capital deals making waves in ecommerce, CPG and retail.
This week brought new funding for CPG beverage brands putting a new spin on water. Plus, ecommerce roll-ups make acquisitions and received new investment
Check out all of the news:
Path water. (Courtesy photo)
Liquid Death, a canned water brand, raised $70 million in a new round of funding that valued the company at $700 million, Bloomberg reported. The round was led by Science Ventures, with participation from Live Nation Entertainment, Swedish House Mafia and comedian Whitney Cummings. The three-year-old startup built by selling canned water with standout branding and marketing, and has also added flavored beverages. It is on track for $130 million in revenue this year, Bloomberg reported. Following the funding round, it plans to expand into new beverage categories and the European market.
Path, a sustainable bottled water brand, raised $30 million in a Series A funding round. The financing was led by Altos Ventures, with participation from Blue Investment Group and Ninja. A trio of entertainment luminaries also participated: HartBeat Ventures, which is the venture fund of actor and comedian Kevin Hart, former American Idol host Ryan Seacrest and Food Network star Guy Fieri.
Caraway, a kitchenware and home goods brand, raised $35 million. The round was led by McCarthy Capital. The company manufactures non-toxic, non-stick ceramic cookware pieces, as well as bakeware and linens. The company recently launched a kettle line and smaller sizes of the cookware pieces. The funding will support its innovation pipeline, marketing and customer experience.. It is also planning to expand its retail presence, which already includes partnerships with Crate & Barrel, Amazon, Nordstrom, Zola, West Elm, Williams Sonoma and others. Founded in 2019, the brand now has more than 40 employees.
Stockly, a platform helping retailers sell out-of-stock items, raised $12 million in new funding, Techcrunch reported. Eurazeo, Daphni and undisclosed angels participated in the round. The company is building a network that allows retailers to fill an order for an out-of-stock item with an item available from another retailer. Clients include Galeries Lafayette, Jonak and Go Sport.
Flora, an ecommerce platform focused on sustainability, raised $9 million. Investors included Lux Capital, Correlation Ventures, Climate Capital and Google AdSense Gokul Rajaram. Also participating were D4 Ventures, Esas Ventures, Paragon Ventures, and the 23 Fund also participated in this round along with entrepreneurs Firat & Fatih Isbecer of Pozitron, Ramakant Sharma of Livspace, Rob Gabel of Tubular Labs, along with executives and investors from Amazon, Apple, Doordash, Goldman Sachs, Silverlake, and Softbank. Flora acquires brands based on sustainability impact and performance, then integrates them into its operating platform to grow sales and optimize operations. It is planning to launch a marketplace in the coming months.
Pattern Brands has a new acquisition. (Courtesy photo)
Pattern, a family of brands focused in the home-life space, announced the acquisition of Onsen, a Utah-based towel and robe company. Onsen makes fast-drying towels in the ‘waffle-weave’ style that was popularized in Japan. Created by the founders of the agency Gin Lane, Pattern raised $25 million earlier this year with plans to acquire Shopify-based brands and scale them to reach a broader audience. The company has acquired four brands in the last 12 months.
Poshmark, the social commerce platform for secondhand goods, is set to be acquired by Naver, a South Korean internet company. The deal is valued at about $1.2 billion, which is a 15% premium on Poshmark's stock price at the close of trading on Oct. 3. Naver is a search engine and ecommerce platform that stands to gain a deeper foothold in shopping through the acquisition. It can also help Poshmark, which offers users opportunities to buy and sell fashion, home goods and beauty products, reach international markets. The companies said the acquisition will "create a global player in online fashion re-commerce by combining Poshmark’s unique discovery-based social shopping platform and deeply engaged community with Naver’s technological prowess in upleveling the ecommerce experience." The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2023.
Supply, a direct-to-consumer razor brand, was acquired by Foundry Brands, according to a Twitter thread from Supply founder Patrick Coddou. Starting with a single-edge razor that the cofounders pitched on Shark Tank, the brand built a cult following and added products for shaving and skincare. Following the acquisition, the seven-year-old brand’s team will remain with the brand as it pursues a “new phase of growth,” Coddou wrote, adding, “Literally nothing is changing except that we’re going to move faster, grow quicker, and get better.”
Society Brands, an ecommerce aggregator, announced the acquisition of three brands: Supplements and vitamins brand Capsule Supplies, children’s product company Yankee Toy Box and collegiate apparel retailer Barnesmith. Launched in 2020, Society acquires brands that primarily sell on Amazon and through DTC channels. It then encourages founders to stay on as brand presidents, joining a network of entrepreneurs that share best practices.
Beauty conglomerate Shiseido said its European arm will acquire Gallinée, a brand that focuses on the skin microbiome. Founded in 2014, the brand offers a range of skincare products that include a complex of prebiotics, probiotics and postbiotics. Following the acquisition, Gallinée founder Marie Drago will join Shiseido’s EMEA team as the chief creative officer of the brand, delivering product innovation and support.
Dealboard has the latest from Bundle x Joy, Kering Eyewear, Blank Street Coffee and more.
DressX brings fashion to the metaverse. (Courtesy photo)
This week, brands including Leesa Sleep, Bundle x Joy and Khaite raised funding for retail expansion. Plus, there’s new funding for self-serve Amazon advertising, digital fashion and automated ecommerce logistics.
Here’s a look at the latest deals:
DressX, a digital fashion marketplace, raised $15 million in a Series A round.
The round was led by Greenfield Capital, with participation from Slow Ventures, Warner Music Group, Red DAO and other investors.
DressX is a multi-brand retailer of digital fashion items that are used to outfit avatars in gaming, social media and the metaverse. The company will use the funding to make upgrades to its app and NFT marketplace, as well as grow its community and partner with other platforms.
“Fashion has always been a core part of someone‘s identity and a way to express yourself. As we spend more and more time in virtual environments, this will equally translate beyond the physical sphere and NFTs and blockchain technology will enable true digital ownership to elevate one’s identity,” said Jascha Samadi, founding partner at Greenfield, in a statement. “We are very excited to see how this space will evolve over the next 5-10 years and we believe DRESSX will be at the forefront of shaping and driving change."
Autonomous logistics and AI company Nimble Robotics raised $65 million in a Series B round.
Cedar Pine led the financing, with participation from existing investors including DNS Capital, GSR Ventures and Breyer Capital.
Led by a team of former Amazon executives, Nimble Robotics will put the funding toward building a network of autonomous 3PL fulfillment centers. The robotics-filled centers are designed to autonomously pick, pack and ship ecommerce orders. The company said it will be able to reduce warehouse size by 75%, and provide coverage of more than 96% of the U.S. population.
Bundle x Joy, a petcare subscription company, raised $1 million in new seed funding, TechCrunch reported.
The funding round was led by Leap Venture Studio, with additional backing from Mars Petcare Companion Fund, R/GA Ventures, Michelson Found Animals Foundation and Cloyes Ventures.
With the funding, the company plans to double its retail footprint from a current 450 stores. TechCrunch described the company’s digital customer acquisition model this way:
From a nutrition perspective, Bundle x Joy curates its boxes from 15 products and a proprietary “Pup Quiz” for customers to assess what products to offer and the personality of their dog. In fact, the company assigns fun personalities to each pet, including “Golden,” “Vibrant” and “Brave.”
In addition, the quiz enables the company to output the right bundle for the pet, including formulation, size and frequency of food and supplements, based on the specific needs of the pet.
Blank Street Coffee, which provides delivery from automated microcafes, raised $20 million in new funding, Fast Company reports.
The round included participation from Left Lane Capital, HOF Capital, General Catalyst and Tiger Global.
After expanding to more than 40 locations, the company is exploring a subscription program that will provide beverages every two hours, as well as the addition of breakfast.
Tyson Ventures, the VC arm of food giant Tyson, invested in Athian, a carbon credit marketplace focused on the livestock industry.
Participants in the financing also included Elanco Animal Health Incorporate and Newtrient LLC.
This funding will help propel the company toward the launch of a transactional carbon credit inset platform. This is designed to provide financial incentive to livestock farmers who engage in sustainable practices. In particular, the program aggregates, validates and certifies greenhouse gas reductions, then monetizes them through the sale of carbon credits. The idea is that farmers can earn revenue to fund the implementation of more programs.
"Our vision is to be the platform that enables the livestock industry to meet its sustainability goals by empowering producers to implement on-farm practice changes that will move the needle on climate change,” said Athian CEO Paul Myer, in a statement.
Mayan, which makes a platform providing optimization and automation for Amazon sellers, raised $5 million in a Series A funding round.
Bright Pixel led the financing, which comes in addition to a $2 million seed round from Y Combinator, Global Founders Capital, Alumni Ventures Group, ESAS Ventures and Alarko Ventures.
With the financing, Mayan is planning to launch a self-service platform for Amazon advertising, as well as an analytics and forecasting suite. It will also begin work in areas of Amazon selling such as inventory and working capital.
Khaite, a New York fashion brand, raised new funding from private equity firm Stripes. According to Vogue Business, the brand is planning to use the funding to fuel expansion in retail, with an aim of opening 10 stores in the next five years.
Terms of the investment were not disclosed.
Leesa Sleep, a direct-to-consumer bed-in-a-box brand, was acquired by 3Z Brands, a distributor of sleep products.
With the acquisition, Leesa will remain a standalone brand, joining Helix Sleep, Brooklyn Bedding, Birch, Bear Mattress and Nolah.
"Leesa is an exceptional company built on the pillars of delivering better sleep for customers and creating a positive impact in communities,” said 3Z CEO John Merwin, in a statement. “With its advanced design expertise and high-quality products, we're looking forward to supporting Leesa's continued growth with our best-in-class manufacturing expertise and digital capabilities. This addition marks our third acquisition within the last year, demonstrating 3Z's commitment to building a leading DTC platform that meets each customer's tailored sleeping needs.”
Kering Eyewear acquired 100% of UNT, Usinage & Nouvelles Technologies, a French manufacturer of high-precision metal and mechanical components for the luxury eyewear sector.
It’s the latest move by Kering Eyewear to control its own supply chain. UNT is based in the Jura region, which is known historically as the focal point of the French eyewear industry.
"Being a long-term, high-quality supplier of Manufacture Kering Eyewear, this new acquisition represents the opportunity to create an integrated luxury eyewear platform with best-in-class manufacturing capabilities, facilities and talents, in addition to supporting and further elevating the Jura district,” said Kering Eyewear President and CEO Roberto Vedovotto.