Adrianne DeLuca

A nearly endless stream of news – with a fair share being M&A-related – clearly marked the start of 2026 and the end of that slow, stagnating deal period that had been festering since sometime around 2022.

Oats Overnight announced today it has closed a $45 million growth equity round led by Astō Consumer Partners to fuel the business’ next stage of growth.

Better-for-you meat snack maker Western Smokehouse Partners acquired Texas-based hand-crafted jerky and meat products producer Junior’s Smokehouse this week.

Everything has protein in it these days, and while some of the new “innovations” may be a grab for relevance, some categories are benefiting from consumers’ heightened interest in clean label, muscle-bulking iterations of regular old pantry staples.

Odeko announced today it has acquired Washington, D.C.-based specialty food and beverage distributor District Distribution as it works to build an anchor in the Mid-Atlantic region to access local products and vendors.

Regenerative rice brand Lundberg Farms has expanded into crunchy snackable sweets with new dessert-inspired line Sweet Cakes.

Inspired by the needs of her grandmother, Jess Haghani has set out to spur a better-for-you wave across the highly-processed senior nutrition aisle.

Canadian jams, jellies, and spreads producer Crofter’s Organic has been acquired by food-focused private equity platform Power Sustainable Lios, with co-investments from Farm Credit Canada, BMO Capital Partners, and the Latka family, who founded the brand in 1989.

HighKey Cookies parent company Creations Foods has merged with Get Real Foods, the maker of REAL Cookies, to create a vertically-integrated CPG platform “dedicated to healthier, better-for-you snacking across North America,” the company said.

FoodNerd announced it has closed a $7.5 million seed round led by Selva Ventures, with participation from Cistern Capital, Spacestation Investments, and S2 Ventures as well as angel investor Joe Nieman.