Next In Natural Acquires Rowdy Mermaid

Next In Natural Acquires Majority Stake in Aura Bora

February 19, 2025

Food & Beverage

Brooklyn-based investment firm Next In Natural has acquired a majority stake in Aura Bora, the San Francisco-based craft sparkling water brand, with terms not disclosed. Aura Bora will join Next In Natural’s shared services ecosystem to scale operations and innovation; founder Paul Voge remains CEO while Next In Natural CEO Jeff Lichtenstein will serve as chairman.

NextFoods Merges Cheribundi and GoodBelly; Emil Capital Partners Leads Investment

April 5, 2023

Food & Beverage

NextFoods announced the merger of functional-beverage brands Cheribundi and GoodBelly into a combined NextFoods entity to capture product and channel synergies and scale nationwide. Emil Capital Partners is the largest investor in the combined company and Marcel Bens (current CEO of Cheribundi) will become CEO of NextFoods while Juan Gluth moves to Chief Commercial Officer.

Nexus Capital Acquires Smucker's Natural Beverage and Grains Businesses (R.W. Knudsen, TruRoots)

January 31, 2022

Food & Beverage

The J.M. Smucker Co. completed the sale of its natural and organic beverage and grains businesses — including the R.W. Knudsen and TruRoots assets and trademarks plus a licensing agreement for Santa Cruz Organic beverages — to Nexus Capital Management LP for $110 million in cash (subject to working capital adjustments). The transaction includes manufacturing and distribution facilities in Chico, California and Havre de Grace, Maryland, and Nexus plans to operate the acquired brands as an independent consumer platform led by Bobby Chacko as chairman and CEO.

SYSTM Foods Acquires HUMM Kombucha

January 3, 2024

Food & Beverage

SYSTM Foods, a functional beverage brand platform backed by GroundForce Capital and SYSTM Brands, has acquired HUMM Kombucha, a leading low- and zero-sugar kombucha brand headquartered in Bend, Oregon. The deal adds a gut-health focused brand to SYSTM's portfolio (which includes REBBL and Chameleon Organic Coffee) as part of a roll-up strategy to build scale and capabilities in the refrigerated ready-to-drink functional beverage category.

Gryphon Investors Acquires Majority Stake in Spindrift Beverage Co.

January 14, 2025

Food & Beverage

Gryphon Investors will acquire a majority stake in Spindrift Beverage Co., a Newton, Massachusetts-based maker of sparkling water and other fruit-based beverages, with founder Bill Creelman and the management team retaining a significant equity stake. The investment coincides with the appointment of Dave Burwick as CEO and is intended to provide financial and operational resources to accelerate the brand's growth; the deal is expected to close in Q1 2025 (terms not disclosed).

Fermented Food Holdings Acquires wildbrine and Bubbies

March 8, 2022

Food & Beverage

Fermented Food Holdings (FFH), a newly formed Miami-based food & beverage holding company, has acquired fermented-food brands wildbrine (Santa Rosa, CA) and Bubbies (Ventura, CA). Taylor Farms is a strategic minority equity investor in FFH and will support supply-chain optimization; the deals expand FFH's portfolio as it builds a category-leading platform in fermented and functional foods.