• ♾️ Eternal Water Seeks Longevity
• 📊 GURU Reports Q4, FY 2023 Results
• 🤔 Aussie Agave?

Considering Logan Paul’s impact on PRIME’s success, what should we expect from today’s announcement of Stanford neuroscientist and podcast star Dr. Andrew Huberman’s acquisition of Canadian yerba mate RTD brand Mateína? Sure, middle schoolers may not be tuning into the Huberman Lab on the reg, but the Stanford professor commands one of the top-ranked shows on iTunes and Spotify, and around 5.7 million Instagram followers, to boot. 

🎿 Montreal-based Mateína was soon after co-founder Nicolas Beaupré got hooked on yerba mate while working at a ski resort in South America. The brand, launched in 2019, now counts its four-SKU line of non-carbonated RTD cold brews as its primary sales driver, mainly via ecommerce but with a presence in stores like Whole Foods. 

🗣️ With Dr. Huberman poised to amplify its messaging, Mateína is launching its U.S. online store – as well as introducing a zero-sugar variety co-developed with the podcaster – this week. 

💰 Also part of the deal: Tiny, the tech-minded, publicly traded Canadian investment group which recently acquired cinema app Letterboxd. 

For more details about the deal, read the full story on BevNET

True to its name, Eternal Water is looking to build a business to last for a long time. The naturally alkaline bottled water maker has seen sizable growth in recent years and now is looking to extend its runway into the convenience channel.

📈 Founded in 2008, Eternal Water reported 50.1% growth to around $28 million for its bulk water line in the 52-weeks ending December 31, 2023, according to Circana.

🤝🏼 In 2021, the brand hired a slate of former Essentia sales and marketing veterans to help scale its business. Now founder and CEO Karim Mashouf says the brand is taking off thanks to the experience of its team.

💧 There’s challenges ahead, however. Large strategics like PepsiCo (Gatorade Water) and Coke (Smartwater) have introduced their own innovations in the alkaline category, even as growth of Essentia has slowed.

For more on Eternal Water’s growth strategy, read the full story on BevNET.

For those of you looking for a variety of levels of investment capital, the frustration was real in 2023. Deals were down. Again. That’s the skinny from the FABID 2023 Annual Report, which hit our screen yesterday. Here’s a rundown of the conclusions and numbers drawn by FABID founder Ryan Williams:

💸 Seventy-seven fewer brands raised venture capital last year than in 2022, when the number was 308. It was only 231 in 2023.

📉 Total investment was down by 36 percent from last year, for a total of $1.6 billion, according to Wiliams, with average investment per brand falling to $6.9 million from $8 million in 2022.

🥩 The plant-based meat category was crushed in the deal environment last year after attracting a high of more than $1 billion in total investment in 2021. 

⚡ One highlight: Celebrity brands are on the rise, according to the report: at the current pace, over 100 actors will have launched a CPG brand by 2024. Talk about Actors’ Equity…

Read more on Nosh.

Canadian energy drink maker GURU reported its full fiscal year ending October 31, 2023 grew to CAD$29.3 million, up from CAD$29.1 million the year before.

😐 Though overall revenue growth was low, the company made significant strides to reduce net losses to CAD$5.6 million, compared to CAD$17.6 million in FY 2022.

📈 Q4 2023 net revenue was up 13% to CAD$7.7 million, versus CAD$6.8 million the year before.

2️⃣ In the U.S., the brand has launched two new flavors via Amazon: Fruit Punch in December and Peach Mango Punch earlier this month.

🛒 Looking ahead, CEO Carl Goyette said the company will focus on increasing sales in its core sales channels as it strives to regain profitability.

A spirits company is aiming to “create a new region of agave spirit,” with the launch of its first bottles produced from an Australian agave farm and distillery. 

The brand, Act of Treason, has been in the works for years and comes from a farm with more than 600,000 Blue Weber, the same plant used for tequila. 

🥃 Trent Fraser, CEO of Top Shelf International, said the company sees an opportunity to put a distinctive imprint on a category that continues to surge in popularity in Australia and overseas. Fraser helped build Moët Henessey’s Volcan de mi Tierra tequila brand.

🇲🇽 Denominations of origin for tequila, mezcal and other Mexican spirits restrict production to certain Mexican states, but Act of Treason is not the first brand outside of Mexico to attempt to leverage the recent popularity of agave spirits. A similar trend is going on with sotol, another spirit from Mexico: producers like Desert Door are aiming to capitalize on the spirit’s newer recognition with stateside versions. 

🇺🇸 As for whether we in the U.S. might see more international versions of agave spirits from outside of Mexico? It’s possible, but with an abundance of agave spirits just south of the border, shipping costs from far away places like Australia or South Africa might make them less competitive.