By Lynda Kiernan
Brand Foundry Ventures has led a $3 million Seed round for Weller, a maker of CBD-infused snacks and beverages. Other participating institutional investors include LivWell Ventures, Great Oak Ventures, CanopyBoulder, and 7Thirty Capital. Additionally, Justin Gold, the founder of Justin’s, and Bill Weilland, CEO of Presence Marketing, made personal investments in the company.
As part of the terms of the funding, Andrew Mitchell, founder and general partner of Brand Foundry, will join Weller’s Board of Directors.
Co-founded in 2017 by natural food industry veterans in Boulder, Colorado, Weller produces CBD Coconut Bites, a line of CBD Sparkling Water, and CBD Drink Mix, all infused with CBD from broad spectrum hemp extract.
“This is an exciting moment in the brand’s history, and we are fortunate to be working with key partners that are aligned with Weller’s values,” said Matt Oscamou, co-founder, Weller. “By partnering with Brand Foundry Ventures and our additional investors, we look forward to accelerating our growth across the nation as the interest and opportunity for CBD products continues to rise.”
Currently, Weller’s products are available across 25 states through retailers including Wegmans’s, Lucky’s, Sprouts, Fairway Markets, Weis Markets, Lassen’s, and Modern Market, and can be purchased online through Amazon and their brand website.
Since its launch, Weller has experienced rapid growth, expanding its footprint to more than 1,000 stores. And with the capital from this round, the company plans to boost its sales and marketing efforts, and work to scale production to meet high demand.
“We’re rapidly expanding distribution and look forward to accelerating our growth with Brand Foundry Ventures and our additional investors,” said Weller co-founder John Simmons. “Our national retail footprint has increased to over 1,000 stores; we’re seeing a huge wave of interest from retailers across all channels of trade. Our whole team is incredibly inspired to reach consumers across the nation who are curious about CBD-based products as a way to better their minds and bodies.”
As part of this initiative, Weller has targeted the Los Angeles market for growth after partnering with distributor L.A. Distributing last month, according to BevNet. And central to this growth, Weller sees their beverage line as the driving category.
“There’s some really top tier brands supported with executives and resources in the category, but what we’re seeing is really indicative of what we think is going to be the largest part of the CBD category and that’s the beverage part,” Simmons told BevNet. “The velocities, the formats, the usage routines are all lining up for beverage to be the largest part of the category.”
Drink Up!
With the passing of the 2018 Farm Bill came the legalization of the industrial production of hemp in the U.S., opening the door for the influx of investment capital and the opportunity for vast market expansion.
By removing hemp from the list of controlled substances and legalizing its production, the Farm Bill will be the catalyst to turn what has been a boutique activity since 1937 when the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 made the possession of cannabis and hemp illegal, into a business that has the potential to generate revenues of more than $20 billion per year by 2020.
And what better way to drive the mainstreaming of CBD than by integrating it into the food and beverages that consumers reach for every day?
By 2024, the market for CBD and hemp infused beverages is expected to exceed $1.4 billion, a fifteen-fold increase over 2018 sales of $89 million, according to food and beverage consulting firm, Zenith Global – a forecast that investors and industry insiders are already capitalizing upon.
In February of this year, Tilray Inc., a British Columbia-based cannabis cultivator, producer, researcher, and distributor, and portfolio company of leading cannabis investment group Privateer Holdings, made the jump into food, acquiring Manitoba Harvest, the world’s largest provider of hemp-based foods, for C$419 million (US$318 million).
And less than a month later, GAI News shared that Growpacker, a Canadian contract manufacturer of THC and CBD-infused edibles and beverages in the U.S., announced the launch of an incubator and accelerator program created to advance both THC and CBD brands sold in California.
The first company chosen by Growpacker to participate was CERIA Brewing Company, the maker of Grainwave, a de-alcoholized cannabis-infused beer using unique brewing processes and custom formulations.
In fact, the cannabis-infused beverage segment is growing so rapidly, that three Rabobank executives: beverage analyst Boucard Nesin; senior beverage analyst Jim Watson; and executive director of food and agribusiness research Stephen Rannekleiv, recently sat down with Jennifer Maloney, a beverage, tobacco, and cannabis reporter with the Wall Street Journal, to discuss how the integration of cannabis is affecting the beer, wine, and spirits industries.
Weller is also capitalizing not only upon these market trends, but also on consumer demand for convenience, positioning itself as a leader in the space.
“Weller saw an opportunity to address modern consumers preferences from a product, convenience, and brand voice perspective,” said Andrew Mitchell, general partner, Brand Foundry Ventures. “Our team at Brand Foundry saw an opportunity to lead a new, multi-billion dollar, CBD category and thought that the straightforward and relatable brand voice would resonate well with potential customers, which it has.”