🥤 PepsiCo’s North America Slump

Lower demand for both drinks and snacks in North America struck a blow to PepsiCo’s Q2 2024 quarterly earnings, the company reported this morning, even as it grew gross and operating margins and beat some analyst expectations.

BevNET Insiders can access our full recap of today's report including details on why the soda giant's North American sales are struggling.

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Growth equity investment firm Alliance Consumer Growth (ACG) this week closed a new $160 million fund, the company’s fifth, bringing its lifetime financing to over $1 billion in aggregate capital commitments.

🥡 ACG Fund V has already been used for two new investments by the consumer-focused firm, including leading Momofuku Goods’ $11.5 million funding round last fall, and an investment skincare company iNNBEAUTY Project.

🌝 ACG co-founder and managing partner Josh Goldin told Nosh the firm expects to ultimately invest in a total of seven to nine new brands with the fund, including the two aforementioned deals.

😋 Goldin said ACG is currently highly interested in the food and beverage sector, which he believes is seeing a resurgence in consumer and investor interest after a long inflationary period challenged entrepreneurial brands.

Read more about the new fund on Nosh.

Get ready for our July Community Calls! This month, dive into GNGR Labs’ hands-on growth strategies, find out how to dial in product market fit for a successful product launch, and join us as we reveal the 2024 Nosh Notables list. Our July calls are free and open to the public – just register in advance and mark your calendar.

BevNET’s annual Natural Beverage Guide is the beverage industry’s largest guide to beverages targeting the natural channel. The guide includes everything from kombucha to bottled waters and powders, plus companies that supply goods and services to those beverage manufacturers. The final deadline to list is today, Thursday, July 11.

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On the podcast this week, the team plays a quick game of Two Truths And A Lie: CPG Edition, testing our reporters’ knowledge of recent product launches. After the quiz, the group runs down the topics and premise of Nosh’s recently released Trendlines series. They go deep on three features from the five-part series, explaining developments in self-manufacturing, healthspan versus lifespan marketing campaigns and the roiling debate over seed oils in formulations.

Listen to the full episode on Nosh.

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