M&A Madness
Plus: Hinge's Substack series, taking financial advice from social media, and more 💵
Hello and welcome back to Brandscape!
I hope your week is off to a great start. May has been a big month for CPG acquisitions. After seeing the news that Chobani will acquire Daily Harvest for an undisclosed amount last week, I was curious to explore the details of that acquisition and others.
So, in today’s letter, I’ll be breaking down recent acquisitions, including the history of the acquired brands, details of the acquisitions, and future directions. Make sure to stay to the end for the headlines of the week.
I’m heading to NYC next week for the summer! 🍎 If you’re a New York-based reader, I’d love to chat! Feel free to email me or say hi on LinkedIn 👋
M&A Madness
Daily Harvest + Chobani 🍽️
Rachel Drori founded Daily Harvest in 2015 with the mission of making healthy food more accessible and using regenerative farming practices in the process. Starting with a line of smoothies, DH soon expanded to offer soups, grain bowls, and more. It became a fast favorite among time-constrained consumers looking for quick, healthy meal options.
Since its founding, Daily Harvest has raised more than $133 million. Meal kit companies did relatively well during COVID-19 as cooking at home became more of a necessity. It reached a valuation of $1.1 billion in 2021.
Last week, Chobani announced that it will acquire Daily Harvest for an undisclosed amount. This follows Chobani’s acquisition of La Colombe at the end of 2023, demonstrating a significant expansion in the better-for-you food and beverage space.
I see a lot of overlap between Chobani and DH’s missions and values. Both companies emphasize championing ethical farming/production processes and expanding accessibility to healthy foods.
This acquisition gives Chobani exposure to the frozen food/meal kit category and will allow DH to expand its retail presence thanks to Chobani’s manufacturing and distribution expertise.
Acquired for: undisclosed amount
Touchland + Church & Dwight 👋
If you were in high school or college during the pandemic, chances are you’ve seen a Touchland hand sanitizer bottle. With its rectangular shape, transparent design, and bold color, it’s hard to miss.
Touchland was founded in Barcelona in 2010 by Andrea Lisbona. It later launched in the U.S. in 2018. Due to social media virality and increased concern about the spread of germs during the pandemic, Touchland saw explosive growth starting in 2020. The company has seen continued success since the pandemic, as shown through a +203% YoY sales growth between 2022 and 2023. The hand sanitizers were recently dubbed “the latest teen status symbol” by WSJ.
Last week, Church & Dwight acquired the company for $880 million (for reference, the U.S. hand sanitizer market was valued at $1.2 billion in 2023). This acquisition is especially interesting to me on Church & Dwight’s end. Their biggest brand is medicine cabinet mainstay Arm & Hammer, which is very different from their recent acquisitions.
They acquired Hero Cosmetics (makers of the Mighty Patch) in 2022, which is another Gen Z favorite. It seems their strategy is to acquire category-disrupting Gen Z brands that are somewhat adjacent to beauty/wellness. This marks a different approach from other conglomerates that are focused more on skincare or cosmetics.
Acquired for: $880 million
SevenRooms + DoorDash 🚗
SevenRooms is a CRM, table management, and marketing platform designed for restaurants that was founded by Joel Montaniel, Allison Page, and Kinesh Patel in 2011. The platform helps streamline customers’ dining experiences and provides restaurants with useful data.
With this acquisition, DoorDash can expand its footprint in the hospitality space, allowing restaurants to integrate SevenRooms’ software into the DoorDash Commerce Platform.
Acquired for: $1.2 billion
What do you think about these recent acquisitions? Let me know in the comments!
Headlines of the week 🗞️
Hinge is making their Substack debut with a five-part series featuring contemporary writers. Their Substack,
, will feature essays from Hunter Harris, Tomasz Jedrowski, Jen Winston, William Rayfet Hunter, and Upasna Barath. A physical book including these essays will be distributed to book clubs across NYC and London this summer.
Away’s co-founder, Jen Rubio, stepped down as CEO. I’ll be curious to see what she does next. As for Away, Jessica Schinazi plans to lead the company’s new chapter with a focus on further expansion into wholesale. The Away episode of How I Built This remains my favorite. It’s so interesting to hear about Rubio’s experience with the early days of corporate social, launching with a coffee table book before luggage, and pitching to editors.
Gen Z turns to social media for financial advice more than any other generation. About 70% of Gen Zers report being influenced by a financial trend online. Unsurprisingly, TikTok is the most common platform that Gen Zers turn to for content surrounding such trends.
Gen Z is using ChatGPT for fashion advice. So, it makes sense that ChatGPT, Perplexity, etc., are working to integrate commerce tools onto their platforms. There are also emerging startups that help brands show up more often in chat responses (think of it as SEO for AI).
Molly Baz revealed rhode-style Ayoh phone cases for mayo-on-the-go:
Thanks for reading!
— Henry
Brandscape is a weekly newsletter covering marketing, brand, consumer insights, and design — all through the lens of a college student.
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