Cpgconnect // Vol. 33: Seaweed Sips, Squeeze PB, and Retail Reloads
This week, marine ingredients are showing up in RTDs, peanut butter is ditching the jar for the gym bag, and legacy nutrition players are quietly tripling sales with tighter, more modern brands. From format innovation to retail scale plays, the throughline is clear: behavior change is the new battleground.
But before we dive in, take a quick second to fill out this form. It helps me give back to the CPG community we’re building, connect the right people, and surface new opportunities for brands looking to grow.
This week’s newsletter is sponsored by RetailPath.
I spent some time talking with Maysam, the founder. Before starting RetailPath, he led retail operations at Hims & Hers, so he’s lived the retail compliance and deduction chaos firsthand.
What they’re building is honestly a no-brainer: software that automatically disputes invalid chargebacks, compliance fines, shortages, and unpaid invoices across retailers like Target, Walmart, CVS, and Ulta.
Just look at what they did with Ritual: In less than 90 days from onboarding, they recovered over $120k in Target deductions and unpaid invoices — revenue that would have otherwise been written off.
No new headcount. No portal hopping. No chasing PDFs.
What I like about the model is that it’s brand friendly. Brands only pay on dollars actually recovered, and they’re even offering the first $10K recovered free for Cpgconnect readers.
If you’re selling into big-box retail, it’s worth at least understanding what might be sitting on your balance sheet.
Events:
RSVP - Pre-Expo West Espresso & CPG (Anaheim) 3/3
RSVP - East Meets Expo West with Naturally New York & New England (Anaheim, CA) 3/3
RSVP - Next big wave in Snax (Anaheim) 3/3
RSVP - Flexpo West By Man Cereal (Anaheim) 3/4
RSVP - America’s Next Top Snack (Anaheim) 3/4
RSVP - Rise, Roast & Meet CPG (Anaheim) 3/5
RSVP - Expo Hang (Anaheim) 3/5
RSVP - Anti-Expo (Anaheim) 3/5
FRIENDS!!! NEXT WEEK IS OUR SUPERBOWL AND I COULDN’T BE MORE EXCITED! I know a bunch of you that I haven’t met IRL will be around, so please reach out and lets meet up.
Here is a sheet of all of the events for the week, I will be updating this throughout the week! (If you have an event you want to add to it, please let me know)
Brand Shoutout: Dissolvd
Dissolvd is rethinking supplement delivery with oral dissolving strips designed to absorb directly through the mouth instead of the digestive system. Using their FlashRelease™ technology, each strip dissolves in under 60 seconds to deliver nutrients quickly without the need for pills, powders, or injections.
Built for recovery, longevity, and everyday performance, the format offers a fast-acting, water-free alternative for modern wellness routines that do not want the friction of traditional supplement stacks.
Tech Shoutout: patrolapp.ai
Patrol is an AI-powered Shopify app that helps brands automatically identify and fix ADA and WCAG accessibility issues directly within their storefront theme. Instead of relying on surface-level overlay widgets, Patrol audits and remediates compliance gaps at the code level, continuously monitoring your site as updates are made.
For fast-moving CPG brands shipping frequent site changes, it acts as a built-in accessibility safety net that flags and fixes issues before they become legal or conversion risks.
Unwrapped w/ Hilary & Emily from POCA
Hilary Coles and Emily Boschwitz didn’t set out to build just another sweetener brand. They set out to reclaim something much bigger: pleasure.
Hilary previously co-founded Hims & Hers, helping transform functional healthcare products into culturally relevant, lifestyle-defining brands. She understands how to take something clinical and make it feel human. Emotional. Desirable.
Emily built her career scaling brands like Hims & Hers, Vanta, and Eight Sleep. Her lens has always centered on connection and community. Not just growth for growth’s sake, but brands that resonate.
POCA lives at the intersection of both of those philosophies.
When we think of sweetness, we think of moments. A treat from a parent. A post-game reward. Unwrapping your favorite candy just because. But somewhere along the way, pleasure became optimized out of our routines. Everything became about macros, efficiency, and performance.
Hilary saw a gap.
Coffee and matcha had quietly become one of the last culturally acceptable indulgences. GRWM rituals. Waiting in line for a seasonal drop. Crafting your personalized order like it was a daily identity statement. It was small, but meaningful.
Yet the sweeteners on the market felt underwhelming. Limited flavors. Nutritional compromises. Harsh sugar alcohols. Nothing that truly elevated the ritual.
So they built it.
About nine months ago, they partnered with a food scientist and began developing POCA. Innovative flavors. Portable sachets. No cane sugar. No crash. A good source of fiber. Sweetness designed to feel indulgent without undermining how you want to feel.
Not a replacement for your ritual. An upgrade to it.
The early days were equal parts excitement and anxiety. Designing packaging for the first time, even with prior experience launching dozens of products, never gets easier. How it feels in your hand. How it translates from screen to shelf. How it survives logistics. How it lands emotionally.
Every detail matters.
Now, as they approach launch, growth is being approached intentionally. Partnerships. Limited-edition flavors. Cafés. Retail. An ecosystem that builds anticipation. POCA isn’t just a product drop. It’s something you step into.
A brand that embeds itself into everyday rituals and creates space for joy.
For founders entering CPG, Hilary’s advice is direct. The market may feel crowded, but the brands that win are those that clearly serve a specific community with a strong point of view. Food and beverage are deeply tied to identity and memory. When you tap into culture, heritage, or shared rituals, you unlock resonance that scale alone cannot manufacture.
POCA starts with sweetness. But it’s really about presence.
News:
Aqua Theon Raises $13M to Advance Seaweed Innovation as OoMee Secures $5M Seed Extension
Seaweed technology platform Aqua Theon, founded by Japanese entrepreneur Alissa Miky, has closed a $13M funding round to accelerate the development of marine-based innovation across food, beverage, and supplements.
OoMee, the company’s functional beverage brand built on agar-agar derived from seaweed, also secured a $5M seed extension to support distribution and product expansion. Positioned as the first ready-to-drink brand leveraging marine ingredients to support satiety and fiber intake, OoMee is entering the rapidly growing $192B functional beverage market with a regenerative, fiber-forward alternative.
The seed extension was led by SPARX Asset Management, with participation from Beyond Next Ventures and World Innovation Lab. Funding will further support Aqua Theon’s broader Seabiotics™ platform as it expands into additional functional nutrition applications.
Rise Wellness Is Quietly Heating Up
One player to watch in nutrition right now is USANA’s Rise Wellness division.
The portfolio includes Rise Bar and Protein Pop, and in 2025, sales tripled.
That kind of acceleration inside an established parent company is worth paying attention to. It signals more than just a product win. It shows that better-for-you snacking with clear positioning and focused brand building can still break through in a crowded protein aisle.
As legacy nutrition companies look to stay culturally relevant, divisions like Rise Wellness may be the blueprint: tighter brands, sharper messaging, and products built for modern routines, not just macros.
Drizzy Makes Peanut Butter Portable
Drizzy, the Australian brand putting peanut butter into a squeeze bottle, officially opened pre-orders yesterday.
It sounds simple. It’s not.
Peanut butter has lived in jars forever, tied to knives, counters, and clean-up. Drizzy turns it into a drizzle-first, on-the-go format built for gym bags, lunch boxes, and straight-from-the-bottle moments.
It’s a reminder that in CPG, format innovation can be just as powerful as ingredient innovation. Same pantry staple. New behavior unlocked.
Maazah Secures $2M to Scale Global Flavors
Maazah, the Minnesota-based brand known for its globally inspired dips and sauces, just secured $2M in seed funding from several family offices.
The brand has carved out space by bringing bold, heritage-driven flavors to the center of the plate rather than the edge of it. Not just condiments, but conversation starters.
With fresh capital, Maazah is positioned to expand distribution, deepen retail presence, and continue introducing globally rooted flavors to mainstream shelves.
As consumer palates get more adventurous, brands that celebrate culture with authenticity and clarity are finding real traction. Maazah is one to watch in the evolving sauce aisle.
TRUFF just unveiled a more retail-friendly packaging refresh, tightening up its shelf presence as it continues to scale.
The premium hot sauce brand also announced its expansion into aiolis and dipping sauces, pushing beyond heat and deeper into everyday occasions.
It’s a smart adjacency play. TRUFF has already won with flavor and brand equity. Now it’s extending into formats that drive higher household penetration and repeat usage.
From specialty hot sauce to full-flavored condiment platform, this is how you widen the moat without losing the edge.
UPDATE Reloads With New Look + Major Retail Push
Paraxanthine-powered energy drink brand UPDATE just unveiled a new look and announced Kim Kardashian as a co-founder.
At the same time, the brand is preparing for one of Walmart’s largest beverage rollouts in recent memory, with more than 4,000 doors set to carry UPDATE beginning March 1, 2026.
That’s a serious one-two punch.
Celebrity-backed brands are nothing new. But pairing a high-profile co-founder with differentiated functional positioning and immediate mass retail scale changes the equation. This isn’t a slow DTC crawl. It’s a full-speed retail sprint.
Between paraxanthine as the hero ingredient and national Walmart distribution out of the gate, UPDATE is entering the energy aisle with both cultural gravity and shelf power.
BARIS Lands Nationwide at Sprouts
BARIS, the brand behind chocolate-covered frozen raspberries handpicked in Patagonia, is officially launching nationwide in Sprouts Farmers Market.
The rollout includes four flavors:
- Extra Dark Chocolate
- Hazelnut
- Pistachio
- And a Sprouts-exclusive Matcha
Better-for-you indulgence continues to blur the line between dessert and functional snacking, and BARIS leans into both origin story and flavor innovation. Handpicked fruit from Patagonia paired with premium chocolate gives the brand strong shelf storytelling, while retailer-exclusive SKUs signal smart partnership strategy.
From niche frozen treat to nationwide natural retail presence, this is a meaningful distribution milestone to watch.
Smash Kitchen Steps Into Snacks
Smash Kitchen is expanding beyond condiments with the launch of a new line of kettle chips.
The line is already live in 4,000 Walmart stores, giving the brand immediate national snack aisle presence.
It’s a natural extension. Once you’ve built trust around better-for-you sauces, moving into adjacent snack formats keeps you in the same consumption moments while widening the basket.
And they’re not stopping at kettle chips. Organic tortilla chips and popcorn are next, signaling a broader snack platform in the making.
From pantry staple to full snack ecosystem, Smash Kitchen is building for shelf dominance, not just a single category win.
Esspo Blends Soda Culture With Cold Brew Energy
Esspo, a new espresso soda brand co-founded by Philippe von Borries, Katharine Leitch, and Justin Stefano, officially debuted yesterday with three flavors.
The concept took two years to develop and was designed with a clear tension in mind: sip like a soda, hit like a cold brew.
Each can delivers 120mg of caffeine paired with 240mg of L-Theanine, aiming for a smoother, more controlled energy curve rather than the jittery spike-and-crash cycle.
Notably, Philippe von Borries and Justin Stefano previously co-founded Refinery29, which Vice Media acquired for $400M in 2019. That media DNA matters. Founders who understand culture, audience, and storytelling often approach beverage differently than traditional operators.
Espresso meets soda. Media meets CPG. Calm focus meets carbonation.
Esspo enters the market with both formulation intent and brand-building experience behind it.
Whether you’re launching your first SKU, pushing into retail, or just trying to stay ahead of where CPG is headed, that’s what Cpgconnect is here for. This community exists to connect the right people, surface real opportunities, and share what’s actually working as brands scale.
If you haven’t yet, take a minute to fill out the form so I can keep tailoring this to what’s most useful for you. And for daily updates, brand finds, and behind-the-scenes CPG moments, make sure to follow along on Instagram.
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Catch you next week ✌️
- Zach
P.S. If this was helpful, pass it along to a founder or teammate who’d get value out of it. And as always, hit reply anytime. I read every message.