The joint venture with Coke will be Dunkin’ Donuts’ first venture into RTD coffee. The chain, publicly traded under Dunkin’ Brands, has long been a source of quick-served coffee and iced coffees on the go, and recently entered the cold brew coffee category itself.

Famous for building SoBe and selling it to Pepsi for close to $400M, Bello is one of two or three potential strategic additions to the board that Reed is hoping will help him hold off a new slate of directors: activist investors met with the ginger brew and root beer maker on Monday, he said, discussing their own slate of board members.

There are three investments on the books following its initial, $18 million raise (including Bonafide Provisions and Hope Foods), which closed in January. One more is scheduled to follow in short order.

As part of the deal, L.A. Libations will purchase equity in the fledgling bone broth company, and will also help shepherd it into the core accounts that are the brand development company’s stock-in-trade.

First will remain a board member with several brands that he started working with via First Beverage, including Health-Ade, Purity, Q, and Project Juice.

The news that beverage incubator L.A. Libations had spawned Aloe Gloe as an independent brand partially funded by Coke’s Venturing & Emerging Brands Group (VEB) means a new stage for both entities.

Brent Willis, the CEO of Bucha, a publicly traded kombucha company, announced the merger today with Xing, a Colorado-based natural tea line that is also owned by Tom Lebon and Scott Lebon, the brothers who run Denver distribution powerhouse New Age Beverage.

Continuing to staff up the cold brewed coffee company they purchased six months ago, celebrity fitness trainer Jillian Michaels and her business partner, Giancarlo Chersich, announced that marketing expert Matt Ammirati had joined Lucky Jack as a co-CEO.

Guayusa-powered natural energy drink Runa confirmed today the long-rumored addition of Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio as an investor, joining a new wave of high-profile individual investors including fellow thespians Marlon Wayans and Adam Rodriguez.

In the month since Natural Products Expo West closed, food and beverage companies have announced millions of dollars’ worth of investment, from strategic investment in companies like Juicero and Body Armor to advanced funding rounds in brands like Perky Jerky and Health Ade.

The purchase brings a high-touch set of account managers who foster the growth of mid-sized businesses into a brokerage and sales strategy firm that deals with the largest companies in the world.

Premium mixers have been one of the hottest categories in the beverage business in the past few years and Q Drinks has led its growth, transforming the carbonated beverage aisle in many specialty and mainstream retail accounts.