Billion-Dollar Berries, Founder Buybacks & Djokovic’s Snack Bet

🫐 Fruitist Raises $150M at $1B+ Valuation

Premium blueberries, meet private equity.

Fruitist, the jumbo-blueberry and superfruit brand, just raised $150 million led by J.P. Morgan and backed by Ray Dalio and others valuing the company at $1 billion+.

Founded in 2012 by Steve Magami, Fruitist now supplies 12,500+ outlets across 40 countries and reports ~$400 million in annual sales.

Why this matters:

• Fruitist has proven that fresh produce + brand + premiumization = investable.

• The brand commands 2–3× sales multiples, unheard of in the low-margin produce space where public comps like Dole and Chiquita trade at 0.1–0.4× revenue.

• Like Zespri (kiwi fruit), Fruitist has vertically integrated IP and global brand control a moat that lets it price a $12 punnet with conviction.

📈 The lesson: even the most commoditized categories can create pricing power when brand, quality, and supply chain intersect.

🥜 Forward Consumer Partners Buys Back Justin’s

Forward Consumer Partners has acquired a 51% stake in Justin’s from Hormel Foods, nearly a decade after Hormel’s $286M acquisition of the nut butter pioneer.

The backstory:

• Founded in 2004 by Justin Gold, Justin’s raised only one institutional round (VMG Partners, 2013) before its sale to Hormel in 2016.

• Now, Forward (fresh off a $425M debut fund) is taking control and reinstating former CEO Peter Burns with Justin Gold returning as strategic advisor.

Context:

• Food giants like Hormel, Kellogg, and Unilever are divesting their “natural & premium” bets from the 2010s.

• Specialist PE groups like Forward and WM Partners are snapping them up, seeing a chance to rebuild authentic brands with focus and founder DNA.

• Forward’s investor base (including Stripes and Eurazeo) gives it both capital and patience, the rare combo for long-term brand compounding.

🥜 The next chapter for Justin’s will test whether “founder energy” can reignite a shelf staple that’s been corporatized.

🌾 Djokovic’s Corn-Free Snack Bet

Cob, the corn-free snacking brand, has raised $5 million in a Seed round led by co-founder Novak Djokovic.

The brand:

• Founded by Jessica Davidoff, who created it after her son developed a corn allergy.

• Core product: popped sorghum snacks, they look like popcorn, but they’re corn-free, gluten-free, and allergy-friendly.

• Early traction across the U.S., tapping the “better-for-you nostalgia” trend.

Why Djokovic matters:
He’s not a passive celebrity investor, he’s the lead investor and product collaborator. The brand’s clean-ingredient focus and anti-inflammatory positioning align perfectly with his personal philosophy.

🎾 If Roger Federer’s $500M On Running payday was proof that athlete founders can drive massive exits, Cob could be Djokovic’s next big swing.

🎙 Podcast Highlight: When the World’s Best Brand Studio Becomes a VC

What happens when the team behind Allbirds, Casper, and Hims decides to start writing checks?

In this week’s episode, I sat down with Daniel Faierman, Partner at Habitat Partners, the new venture fund spun out of Red Antler, one of the most influential brand studios of the past decade.

We discuss:
🌎 How Red Antler’s creative DNA shaped Habitat’s investment lens
💡 Why “brand is distribution” in a world of infinite noise
📊 How early-stage founders can build signal before scale
🚀 Where the next wave of brand-driven investing is headed

🔥 If you want to understand how creative capital is shaping the next generation of consumer brands, this one’s a must-listen.

🎧 Watch on YouTube, listen on Spotify.

That’s it for this week.
If you liked this issue, forward to a friend who obsesses over brand strategy, capital flows, or exit timing.

In the Money – following the flow of capital in consumer

P.S. We love talking to brands interested in exiting in the next 3-18 months. If you know of any brands interested in exiting, or any firms trying to help port cos manage turnarounds, we'd love to share a POV.

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