D2C & CPG market briefing

Greencore / Bakkavor

~£1.5bn (7.9x EV/EBITDA) chilled-food takeover — the UK's largest F&B deal, a ~£4bn-revenue group.

ABF / Hovis

Kingsmill owner acquires Hovis, consolidating UK bread.

Prestige / Breathe Right

$1.045bn acquisition of the Breathe Right sleep / nasal-strip brand (cash + new Term Loan B, closed 15 Jun).

Unilever / Nutrafol

~$1bn for the hair-wellness brand — legacy giants paying premiums for proven DTC loyalty.

Cake Box / Ambala Foods

AIM-listed buyer + equity raise & new debt line; a bolt-on scale play.

Mammoth Brands (Harry's / Coterie)

the DTC roll-up's ~$1bn Coterie diaper deal (cash + stock) is fuelling IPO talk; Coterie cleared $200m net revenue, up ~60% YoY — the model is buy digital-first, scale omnichannel.

Pattern / GIR

the multi-brand DTC house raised $60m (debt + equity) purpose-built to acquire digitally-native home-goods brands, starting with GIR — a house-of-brands aggregator play.

USV Pharma / Wellbeing Nutrition

pharma acquirer bought a 79% stake in the D2C nutraceutical brand for ₹1,583 Cr — strategic buyers are now the default exit for scaled D2C supplements.

Quince — $500m Series E

the manufacturer-to-consumer apparel brand (premium goods at lower prices) raised at a $10bn+ valuation; revenue grows triple-digits annually and topped $1bn — proof DTC fashion at scale still commands mega-rounds.

Skims — $225m (Goldman Sachs)

Kim Kardashian's shapewear-and-apparel brand raised at a $5bn valuation (up from ~$4bn), nearing $1bn net sales — one of the largest private US consumer raises this year, funding retail & international expansion.

Next / Russell & Bromley

Next acquired the heritage British footwear & handbag brand and property for £2.5m (Jan 2026) — listed retailers are absorbing distressed-but-iconic fashion names into their platforms.

Waterdrop — €100m+

Vienna DTC drinks scale-up (€150m revenue, 5m+ online customers, profitable in 2025) raises to accelerate European expansion; new backers include PMI-owned Aspeya and Atlantic Grupa, alongside Temasek.

Trip — $40m (Coefficient Capital)

UK calming-drinks brand hits a $300m valuation — the most valuable UK drinks brand since Innocent & Fever-Tree; ~$100m revenue in 2025, profitably, with celebrity angels (Joe Jonas, Ashley Graham) and a Calm app tie-up.

ZyG — $60m Series A (Accel)

agentic e-commerce OS for DTC brands raises on top of a $58m seed, with Felix, Bessemer & Lightspeed — investor capital is flowing to AI-native commerce infrastructure, not just brands.

Neutonic — $6m at $60m valuation

London functional-drinks & supplements brand raises growth capital — early-stage UK functional beverage continues to attract VC at strong multiples.

Butternut Box — $477m raised to date

the UK fresh-dog-food brand is the highest-funded D2C pet player; pet-food D2C funding rose ~91% YoY in 2025 ($102m across 11 rounds) — a standout subscription category.

Consumer VC roars back

~$16bn in fresh consumer-fund commitments closed in ~15 months — L Catterton raised $11bn, VMG closed a $1bn fund, CAVU $325m (Feb 2026); but it's a mega-fund-vs-seed-drought split, with seed-stage consumer funding down ~31% YoY.

Global-e / Passport

DTC cross-border commerce platform Global-e agreed to acquire US logistics firm Passport, adding a multi-carrier network across cross-border, domestic and last-mile delivery — commerce infrastructure consolidating around fulfilment.