Brad Avery

As consumers “hunkered down” last year amid the pandemic, demand for new food and beverages was very much up, according to IRI’s New Products Pacesetter report examining the performance of 2020’s new product launches. And while a plague year may seem like a period for comfort food and old favorites, new and innovative products saw big benefits from out-of-stock issues and a desire among shoppers for a “change of pace.”

Cirona Labs, a cannabinoid manufacturer and supplier for food and beverage brands, announced today that it has raised $1.5 million in an oversubscribed seed round, led by LiDestri Food & Drink, BevSource and Sweetener Supply.

Ringing in the company’s first day trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market, Oatly CEO Toni Petersson said the decision to go public was “the right thing to do.”

Nearly a year after being formally separated from Dean Foods, plant-based food and beverage company Good Karma is beginning a new chapter. The Colorado-based company announced today a brand refresh accompanied by the launch of a new line of refrigerated plant-based milks and a direct-to-consumer ecommerce platform.

Plant-based protein brand Aloha is getting ready to become a more serious beverage player while also expanding its line of bars further into the natural channel.

Foodtech company Perfect Day, which produces a whey protein isolate from non-animal sources for use in dairy alternative food and beverage products, announced this week the formation of its Sustainability & Health Advisory Council, intended to consult the company on environmental concerns and health and wellness issues.

Health food ecommerce retailer BUBBLE Goods announced this week that it has named Savraj Singh, former CTO of Daily Harvest, as chief technology officer, responsible for leading the company’s engineering team and digital platforms; Walmart was ordered to pay $115 million to Texas-based food tech startup Zest Labs after a jury in Arkansas ruled that the retailer was guilty of stealing its shelf-freshness technology.

Plant-based dairy alternative products maker Oatly submitted plans for an initial public offering (IPO) to U.S. regulators, the company confirmed this week.

Direct-to-consumer wellness brand beam has raised $5 million in a Series A financing round, the company announced today. This month, beam made its first expansion outside of the CBD space with the launch of Elevate, a line of powdered hydration drinks packaged in single-serve sticks.

Plant-based milk maker Oatly is expected to launch an initial public offering this year that could raise as much as $1 billion, according to media reports this week. On Tuesday, CNBC reported that Oatly has hired Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase and Credit Suisse to manage the offering.