Carol Ortenberg

Direct-to-consumer cereal brand Magic Spoon quietly launched a limited run of cereal bars last month, step one in seeing if it can flex beyond its flagship product. Available in 16-count packs for $39, the bars sold out within 48 hours of launching on Magic Spoon’s website.

Better-for-you snack and frozen brand Nick’s announced today that it had raised an additional $100 million to grow the company’s distribution and product assortment.

VMG Consumer Acquisition Corp, a blank-check company formed by Investment firm VMG Partners, filed on Friday with the SEC to raise up to $200 million via an initial public offering.

As if pizza, rice, bread and pasta weren’t enough for cauliflower, now it’s coming for breakfast. Yesterday vegetable-focused frozen food brand Caulipower announced its latest launch, a three-SKU line of Breakfast Scrambles made with a base of cauliflower mixed with eggs, seasoning and chopped vegetables.

General Mills has expanded its presence in functional kids products with the launch of Doolies, a new line of snacks and beverages containing fiber and probiotics to help prevent and treat occasional constipation in children. Doolies is the most recent launch from Gworks, General Mills’ corporate venture studio.

Amazon has welcomed more than 100,000 brands to its U.S. store so far this year, and the company has introduced a suite of new services and user tools aimed at helping those brands gain customers and increase profits.

Just weeks after announcing a $350M funding round, animal-free dairy company Perfect Day debuted a new Climate Hero Super Cake Mix mix under its Brave Robot brand. Meanwhile, the company has also brought on August Vega, the former CEO and founder of non-dairy milk brand MALK, as its director of brand for Brave Robot’s parent company, The Urgent Company.

Coffee company Cometeer wants to make specialty coffee more accessible. To support this goal, the company announced yesterday the close of an additional $35 million in funding for its frozen coffee line.

In this month’s Category Closeup Baking: Expert Analysis, we’ll speak with industry leaders to explore the tactics and trends our experts believe successful baking brands must embrace and hear about what they believe are the opportunities for growth and innovation.

Seeking to broaden its presence in CPG, the team behind produce oriented brand Love Beets announced last week the debut of Offshoot Brands, a venture group and consulting business that will acquire, invest in or assist other better-for-you brands.