From A2 Ice Cream to $10M Skiwear: Founders Who Scale Smart

🍦 Alec’s Ice Cream Raises $11M to Redefine “Better-for-You” Indulgence

Alec’s Ice Cream has raised $11 million in Series A funding, led by Imaginary Ventures, to expand its A2-dairy, regenerative-organic dessert brand, now in 3,000 retail doors, and launch its new single-serve “Culture Cup” line.

Why it matters:

• The brand stands out in a crowded freezer with a triple-differentiation formula: A2 dairy (digestibility) + regenerative farming (sustainability) + pre/probiotics (functionality).

• Its new snack-cup format opens up an incremental consumption occasion, portion-controlled indulgence on the go, not just pint-at-home moments.

• With growing traction in natural and conventional retail, Alec’s is positioning itself as the Halo Top 2.0, premium, functional, and values-led.

💡 The frozen aisle is waking up to functional food. Alec’s shows that better ingredients and clear storytelling can still carve out big whitespace in legacy categories.

🎿 Halfdays’ $10M Raise: Women’s Skiwear Goes Technical

Halfdays, the women-first technical ski brand founded by Olympian Kiley McKinnon, Ariana Ferwerda, and Karelle Golda, has raised a $10M Series A led by Kellwood Company, with participation from Dick’s Sporting Goods Ventures and model Taylor Hill.

The formula:

• Performance-driven outerwear that’s designed for women, by women, avoiding the “shrunk men’s gear” trap while staying below luxury pricing.

• Average ticket: ~$500 jackets, ~$300 snow pants.

• The brand has strong community pull and a clean digital aesthetic that’s expanding into wholesale and retail partnerships.

📈 Apparel is often capital-starved compared to beauty or supplements, but Halfdays’ raise shows investor appetite for high-margin, design-led niches.

Next up? Expanding from seasonal ski to year-round outdoor lifestyle, a move that could multiply its TAM severalfold.

🍸 Kylie Jenner’s Sprinter Joins the RTD Boom

Sprinter, Kylie Jenner’s vodka-soda RTD brand, just raised $4M+ in early funding to scale distribution and marketing across the U.S.

The setup:

• Backed by a Southern Glazer’s distribution deal spanning 31 states.

• Premium ingredients: real fruit juice, no added sugar, 4.5% ABV.

• Targeting a top-5 position among spirit-based RTDs in the U.S.

💬 While most celebrity drinks fizzle, Sprinter’s real advantage isn’t star power, it’s infrastructure. Distribution wins markets, not Instagram likes.

🎙 Podcast Highlight: Ben Perkins on Turning &Collar Around

When your lender calls your loan and you’ve got $2M in MCA debt, what do you do?
Ben Perkins, Founder of &Collar, faced that exact moment and rebuilt a $10M brand from the brink.

In this episode, Ben shares:

• 💰 How he refinanced MCA debt with an SBA-backed bank loan

• 📉 Why cutting Meta spend by 35% increased growth

• 🧮 How every employee now owns their own P&L

• 🛒 The move into Amazon and wholesale, without killing DTC

• 📊 Why running a Rule of 40 business (growth + profit) is the goal

🚀 This is one of the most grounded, tactical playbooks for any founder in the $5–25M range trying to get profitable again.

🎧 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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