• 🎮 G-FUEL Levels Up: Kingswood, First Bev Lead Investment
• 📻Flow, BeatBox Enter Five-Year Manufacturing Deal
• 💸Plant Press Announces $1.2M Seed Round
• 📊 NielsenIQ: Non-Alc Beverage Sales Remain “Healthy and Stable”
• 🧊 Iced Out: Diddy’s Lawsuit Put on Hold
• 🔵 Feeling Blue: Pepsi Targeted For Pollution in NY

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Matched against category giants like Red Bull and Monster, G FUEL has consistently sought to prove that its deep credibility and traction with the global gamer community can provide all the fuel needed to power its continued growth. And after producing the evidence to back that thesis, the Los Angeles-based brand is ready to move to the next level. 

This morning the company announced new "significant growth equity" in the form of an eight-figure cash investment from Kingswood Capital Management and First Bev, the exact terms of which were not immediately released. 

That deal also comes with new management: veteran CPG executive Bryan Crowley -- whose track record includes stints leading Soylent, KeVita, Pabst Brewing, KDP-backed eco-water venture ZenWTR and, most recently, Lance Collins' tequila company Gas Azul -- is joining as G FUEL's chief executive. 

G FUEL founder Clifford Morgan and President/COO Jack LoParco will be sticking around as "key members of the company’s leadership team," according to a press release. 

G FUEL was "built on a winning formula of quality product paired with hugely popular influencers and authentic content creators," according to Crowley, lauding an approach that has borne fruit for digital-driven brands like PRIME and Chamberlain Coffee. The company's existing portfolio offers a range of RTD and powdered products and holds licenses to integrate popular IPs -- Lucasfilm, Disney, Activision, Capcom and Warner Bros., among many others -- into their flavors and offerings. 

Of course, Red Bull and Monster have previously sought to ingratiate themselves with the gaming community through promotions and packaging; on the emerging side, names like NERD Focus and Sly are working to gain a foothold with early adopters. For fast-rising GHOST, there's a direct connection: the Anheuser Busch-backed brand landed a multi-year contract with esports team FaZe Clan, a longtime G FUEL partner, in May 2022.

Meanwhile, G Fuel is seeking to leverage that momentum to expand its platform: in August, the company launched its first snack product, G Fuel Protein Puffs.

For First Bev, aligning with G FUEL gives the group a firm foothold within energy drinks and a brand that brings with it a robust digital presence and strong social following. 

“As we evaluated the opportunity, we were blown away by G FUEL’s incredible social following with over 5 million followers across their social channels,” said Andrew Kovach, Managing Director at Kingswood. 

Stay tuned to BevNET today for more coverage and comments from CEO Bryan Crowley

Taking the BevNET Live stage will be executives from Humble Growth, Wildwonder, Harmless Harvest, Chamberlain Coffee, KeHE, Albertsons, HOP WTR, SPINS, Zevia and others.

Check out the presentation lineup including:

• The Power of Focus in Brand and Business
• Distributors and Brands: Refining the Relationship
• Innovation Tactics: Building Revenue through Portfolio Expansion
• Investment Outlook: The New Exit Environment
• Foodservice Sales: Fountains of Riches
• Executive to Entrepreneur - What We’ve Learned

Register for BevNET Live Dec. 3-5 in Marina del Rey.

Flow Water is continuing to expand operations at its Aurora, Ontario production facility while simultaneously seeking its divestiture, announcing today a five-year manufacturing partnership with alcoholic RTD punch BeatBox Beverages set to kick off next summer.

The deal, due to commence sometime between May and July 2024, marks Flow's first move into beverage alcohol manufacturing, a commitment that will require the installation of a fourth TetraPak production line at the Aurora facility, along with securing the relevant government permits and permissions. 

BeatBox has committed to purchase minimum annual volume (MAV) equal to $115 million in revenue over the life of the contract, which also includes a take-or-pay provision; should the actual volume purchased differ from the MAV over a 12-month period, BeatBox is on the hook for 85% of the value of the difference.

For more details on the deal and what it means for Flow’s long-term strategic priorities, read the full story on BevNET

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‘Clean caffeine’ energy drink Plant Press has closed a seed round of just over $1.2 million with investors including former Tory Burch CMO Miki Berardelli and former NBA Players Association head Roger Mason.  Until now, the brand had been bootstrapped by founder Ariana Farahani, a former research scientist. 

🎶 The round also featured participation from Canadian music producer and DJ BLOND:ISH and two unnamed Grammy award-winning artists.

🛍️ The new capital will go toward growing the Plant Press team, expanding the brand’s product portfolio and increasing its retail footprint. 

🥤Launched in 2021, New York-based Plant Press produces a line of 12 oz. canned “clean caffeine” energy drinks in Grapefruit Ginger, Passionfruit Peach and Watermelon flavors. Each can boast 100mg of caffeine derived from green coffee beans and contains 3 grams of sugar from agave and monk fruit. 

To hear about how Farahani is growing the brand and using non-retail channels as a springboard for capturing a new cohort of energy drinkers, check out the full story on BevNET.

🥤Non-alcoholic beverage sales remained “healthy and stable” as a slight acceleration in pricing growth was offset by weaker volumes during the two-week period ending November 4, according to Goldman Sachs Equity Research’s latest analysis of NielsenIQ data. 

👀 Across all categories, dollar sales were up 2.9% in the two-week period, compared with 3% for four-weeks and 9.3% for 52-weeks. A slight increase in pricing growth, up 4.4% in the period versus 4.1% in the four-weeks, came alongside a slight acceleration in volume declines, down -1.5% for two-weeks compared to -1.1% in the four-weeks. 

☕ Overall, the slightly weaker volumes were driven by sports drinks, RTD coffee and sparkling water, per the report.

Read the full story on BevNET

The legal battle between Sean “Diddy” Combs and Diageo is going to be paused until at least next spring, according to a new ruling from an appeals court. 

📉 To recap, the music mogul filed a lawsuit against Diageo in May, alleging that his spirits brands, Cîroc Vodka and DeLeon Tequila, received worse treatment because of his race. Diageo responded in June by severing ties with Combs, ending the two parties’ 15-year business relationship and claiming that the allegations were false and defamatory. 

🥊 Diddy won round one in September when the Supreme Court of New York denied Diageo’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit and force the case into arbitration. Which means the last we heard, the case would move forward and be open to the public in state court.

🧑‍⚖️ But the spirits giant appealed that ruling and said it faced “irreparable harm” because it would be forced to “arbitrate and litigate the same issues at the same time.” On Tuesday a panel of judges on New York’s appellate division granted that request for a pause in legal proceedings so that Diageo’s attorneys can try to convince the appeals court to send the case to private arbitration. 

➡️ Now the case will not proceed until the appellate court rules on Diageo’s appeal, which must be “perfected for the April 2024” court term, according to the order.

While she tangles with the Trump family in federal court, New York attorney general Letitia James is targeting another big fish: PepsiCo. 

The battleground is the Buffalo River, which James' office claims has been polluted in large part with plastic waste from Pepsi products, per a survey of the river conducted in 2022. 

Of the roughly 2,000 pieces of identifiable trash that it found along the Buffalo River, Pepsi products -- including non-beverage waste like wrappers and chip bags -- accounted for 17%, the largest of any contributor. 

According to The New York Times, AG James is seeking unspecified damages and demanding that Pepsi, based in Purchase, New York, reduce the volume of plastic waste in the river. She's also asking for Pepsi to stop selling single-use plastic products in the Buffalo area that don't have unspecified warning labels attached.