Recess Raises $30 Million in CAVU-led B Round, Adds Kyle Thomas From C4
Recess Drinks has closed a $30 million series B round led by existing investors including CAVU, while Kyle Thomas will be joining founder Ben Witte as co-CEO and President.
Jeffrey Klineman
Editor-in-Chief
As Editor-in-Chief of BevNET, Jeff Klineman oversees the organization's reporting across all of its web sites, as well as BevNET Magazine. Jeff also plans, curates, and hosts the BevNET Live and NOSH Live conferences. Jeff previously worked as a newspaper reporter for the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune, the Boston TAB and the Metrowest Daily News, and has freelanced for publications like Slate, Boston Magazine, Self, George, Commonwealth, and the Chronicle of Philanthropy. He is a graduate of Yale University and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. A frequently-cited expert on the beverage industry, Jeff has also twice been named in Forbes as one of the 25 Most Influential when it comes to Consumer and Retail Companies.
Posts by Jeffrey Klineman
Target Begins THC Beverage Sales; ‘Monumental Day For The Category’
Target has stocked the shelves of 10 stores in the Twin Cities region with intoxicating hemp drinks from ten different brands, marking a potentially seismic shift in distribution for the category.
States of Confusion: Hemp, Cannabis Regulations in Conflict
The growth of the hemp THC business has shined a light on a system that allows the proliferation of legal cannabis in some states while also creating a thriving market for hemp THC beverages in others where cannabis is illegal.
Generous Brands Flexes Cold Chain Comfort With Health-Ade Purchase
Generous Brands has taken another step towards its goal to be a “chassis for the growth of manufacturing” of fresh, healthy beverages with its acquisition of Health-Ade, the second-largest national kombucha brand.
Health-Ade Selling to Generous Brands for $500 Million
Health-Ade’s investors are selling the company to Generous Brands, a portfolio company of private equity firm Butterfly Equity, for approximately $500 million.
Analysis: PepsiCo’s Gut Health Play is a Gut Check for CSDs
As the alt-soda category has grown over the past decade, the success of main brands Poppi and Olipop has been largely parallel, with one slight separation: the emphasis on functionality.…
Coke Responds To Trump’s Appeal, Set to Launch Full-Sugar Sub-Line
Coke CEO James Quincey told analysts on today’s second quarter earnings call that the company would be launching what amounted to a full-sugar line extension, rather than a complete formula change, as some believed President Trump had indicated.
Blood, Sugar, Sex… Coffee? Singer Anthony Kiedis, Shane Powers, Live Nation Launch JOLENE
Anthony Kiedis, the hyperkinetic Red Hot Chili Peppers’ lead singer, along with Shane Powers, a podcaster and former Survivor contestant, has turned the pair’s 20-year-plus standing weekly Thursday coffee meeting into a beverage business.
Beverage Forum: Tom Holland’s New Role in Beverage
This week’s Beverage Forum event in California went deep into one area that L.A. Libations CEO Danny Stepper holds near and dear: brands’ relationships with celebrities.
Beverage Investment Warmup on Tap for 2025, Investors Say
Brand-focused investors and deal advisors at the recently completed Beverage Forum conference in California this week offered a series of details that indicate that the outlook is trending positive on the investment front.
PLTFRM Goes Deep in Natural, Buys Presence Marketing
Presence Marketing, a natural products brokerage firm that grew out of its Chicagoland founding in 1990 to become the largest independent sales and marketing organization in its channel, has been bought by PLTFRM, a multi-channel sales, marketing, and investment company.
Big Deal: The Most Important Beverage Transactions, 2024
Even in a tough year, beverage brands that were able to show organic growth were also able to find investors willing to back expansion. Investors remained interested in the energy drink and modern soda categories, as well as protein-enhanced drinks and NA Beer.
New President Mel Landis on the Olipop “Unicorn”
Big soda has been Melvin “Mel” Landis’s meal ticket for most of his professional career. Now he’s gone to work for one of the brands with the greatest potential to disrupt that category, signing on as the president of Olipop.
Funding Lookback 2024: Defining Success at Year End
Over the past year-plus, we’ve written repeatedly about the slowdown in venture funding and strategic transactions, and panelists on our stages continue to point out that they’d rather see brands with high margins and profitability.