Nutpods, the plant-based coffee creamer brand founded in 2013 by Madeline Haydon, has been acquired by Kroger-backed investment group MPearlRock, the company announced this morning. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Having emerged as an early entrant in the non-dairy creamer category, Nutpods bridged the gap from e-commerce exclusive product to develop into a national player with a presence in 15,000 retail stores, and is the top-selling plant-based creamer within natural retail, according to the brand. The company took on investment from VMG Partners in 2019, and has since expanded into ready-to-drink products and collaborations with brands like Chamberlain Coffee.
“We are proud to join MPearlRock in the next stage of our brand’s evolution. Brian’s background with leading global consumer brands coupled with MPearlRock’s capabilities and resources makes them an ideal growth partner for us,” Haydon said in a statement. “We are excited to reach more consumers in new channels and new product verticals who allow us to become part of their daily coffee ritual.”
The deal marks an auspicious debut for New York-based asset management group MPearlRock, a partnership between PearlRock Partners (a division of Kroger) and New York-based asset management group MidOcean Partners that’s described as “a strategic collaboration to introduce emerging consumer packaged goods (“CPG”) brands to new customers.”
Announced last week, the new entity aims to pair MidOcean’s investment expertise with consumer brands and “Kroger’s deep retail and CPG experience” through the leveraging of retail data science and insights its from in-house analytics team, 84.51° The group is headed by former Keurig CEO Brian Kelley.
“We have been following nutpods for the past few years and have been impressed with Madeline’s vision and disciplined approach and how she built strong customer loyalty by developing and marketing a truly superior product,” said Kelley.
He continued: “nutpods is a remarkable entrepreneurial success story that exemplifies the businesses and management teams with whom we seek to partner. We are thrilled to support the next chapter in nutpods’ evolution and are delighted to work with Madeline and her team to accelerate growth and provide the resources to best position the brand to deliver unique, healthy products to loyal and new customers.”
Per the press release, Piper Sandler & Co. served as financial advisors, and Holland & Hart and Gibson Dunn acted as legal advisors.