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Tag: Allbirds

  • Lyre’s latest fundraising round values company at $500 million

    Lyre’s latest fundraising round values company at $500 million

    Fast-growing non-alcoholic spirits brand Lyre’s, has raised $37 million in a round that values the business at A$500 million less than three years after it launched. The funding round was led by a new investor, D Squared Capital, alongside existing investor, Morgan Creek Capital Management, which has also backed Alibaba, SpaceX, Lyft, and Allbirds). Other previous investors joining the fresh round include DLF Venture, VRD Ventures, and Maropost Ventures.

    The Sydney-based business previously raised $16 million in a seed round in September 2020.

    Co-founders Mark Livings and Carl Hartmann launched Lyre’s in April 2019 with the goal of creating non-alcoholic versions of the world’s most popular spirits. It now produces 14 non-alcoholic spirits with the distinct flavors of gin, whisky, vermouth, amaretto, absinthe, rum, and others, as well as a range of ready-to-drink pre-mixed non-alcoholic cocktails, from an Amalfi spritz to and rum and cola and G&T.

    With around 20% of the population not drinking alcohol, consumption trends heading down among existing drinkers, and an emerging, liberated middle class in Muslim countries looking to have fun and socialize while eschewing alcohol.

    CEO Mark Livings said the latest capital injection will be used predominantly for marketing, and create more than 50 new jobs in sales and marketing, production, logistics, finance, and e-commerce.

    Lyre’s products are now available in more than 60 countries, up 50% in 2021, including in the Middle East and China. This year also saw the business manufacture its one-millionth bottle, and develop six new product variations including Classico, their first no-alcohol Prosecco-style sparkling which launched to market in early November. The company now has production facilities in the UK, Germany, Australia, and the US.

    The drinks startup has also established an R&D division in partnership with beverage technology giant Döhler.

    Livings said range now covers more than 90% of the world’s best-selling cocktails.

    “Millennials and older Gen Zs are drinking less alcohol than any generation before them, but the mindful drinking movement transcends generations and cultural borders. We’re not only growing our business – we’re expanding the whole category, entering territories like the Middle East and Far East virtually uncontested,” he said.

    “The pace of growth we’re seeing is exceptional. We sold our first bottle in 2019 and today we’re selling one at least every 30 seconds. On our current trajectory, Lyre’s is set to become the fastest independent beverage brand to reach Unicorn status.”

    Off-premise sales of low-alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks have jumped in 12 months from $291 million to $3.1 billion. In Australia, the category is expected to grow by 16% over four years to 2024.

    D Squared Capital Managing Director Daniel Grossman said the company is forging a new path in a critical category.

    “The no/low alcohol beverage market is one of the fastest-growing markets in F&B and is showing similar characteristics to plant-based milks, meats, and other mindful consumer categories,” he said.

    “Lyre’s leading product, brand, and range of award-winning SKUs have proven that they are the industry leader and we are excited to be backing the best in class company.”

  • Allbirds completes US$100 million funding round, eyes new product categories

    Allbirds completes US$100 million funding round, eyes new product categories

    Woolworths has stared down a client watchdog appeal over disposable cutlery it branded as “compostable” and “biodegradable”.

    The grocery store large stocked disposable cutlery, plates, and bowls beneath its inexperienced “Select Eco” model between 2014 and 2017.

    The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission took the shop to the courtroom, arguing the typical Aussie shopper would consider the merchandise would biodegrade and compost when positioned within the family compost or common landfill, and that this was deceptive.

    But Justice Debra Mortimer knocked again the watchdog in 2019, discovering it was true that the merchandise might biodegrade in landfill or be changed into compost. The ACCC appealed the choice on the idea the packaging successfully made a promise about what would occur to the merchandise sooner or later.

    On Tuesday, it misplaced once more when Federal Court Justices Lindsay Foster, Michael Wigney, and Darren Jackson dominated in favor of Woolworths.

    Justice Mortimer discovered the merchandise might in truth flip into “useful compost” in a matter of months moderately than years, with some variability.

    But she agreed with the ACCC that on the time Woolworths offered the product within the packaging, it didn’t have any grounds for understanding if it was true.

    The ACCC argued this meant the conduct was deceptive even when it was the case the merchandise have been compostable and biodegradable.

    But the appeal judges disagreed, agreeing with Woolworths that representations are “either true or false” regardless of the frame of mind.

    The judges additionally discovered Justice Mortimer was proper to conclude the one representations made in regards to the merchandise have been that they have been biodegradable and compostable.

    “The representations here did not speak to the future at all,” the judges wrote.

    Woolworths didn’t counsel any time-frame by which the merchandise would biodegrade or compost, they mentioned.

    “In particular, Woolworths did not represent that the products would biodegrade or compost within a reasonable time in the conditions posited by the ACCC.”

    “In any event, even if Woolworths did make representations to that effect, they were true.”

  • Allbirds enters South Korea

    Allbirds enters South Korea

    New Zealand’s footwear label Allbirds is expanding its retail network into South Korea. From the early stages of Allbirds’ international expansion plan, South Korea was always high on the destination list as the company makes its Wool Runner product in Busan.

    “As we continue to expand our international footprint, we’re excited to finally enter the Korean market and connect with our existing community here, further establishing Allbirds as an important sustainable fashion player in Asia,” said Sandeep Verma, head of international.

    The company considers South Korea as a strategic market as it looks to strengthen its presence in greater Asia.

    “Allbirds’ mission to tread lighter on the planet has resonated with people far and wide, from Berlin to New York, from LA to Shanghai, and we’re delighted to share our purpose-led products and a world-class level of care with our Korean customers,” Verma said.

    Founded in 2016 by New Zealand footballer Tim Brown, who later teamed with American biotech engineer Joey Zwillinger, Allbirds now sells in 35 countries with more than 20 of its own brick-and-mortar stores worldwide. The brand is renowned for its logo-free sneakers made from sustainable materials.

    “The response we’ve received thus far has been beyond what we could’ve ever imagined when we first started this,” said Zwillinger, Co-CEO of Allbirds, referring to the international expansion program.

    Last April, Allbirds became the first apparel brand to label all of its products with a Carbon Footprint score, designed to inform customers of the carbon impact of its products.

  • Allbirds launches first outlet in New-Zealand

    Allbirds launches first outlet in New-Zealand

    Despite being started by New Zealand entrepreneur and former footballer Tim Brown, wool-based footwear brand Allbirds has only been available online its home country – until now.

    The launch comes after the business successfully raised $76.7 million at the end of 2018, aiming to help fuel the business’ expansion into Asia and the UK.

    The company, which is headquartered in San Francisco, opened its first New Zealand bricks-and-mortar store in the Britomart precinct of Auckland on Thursday, August 15.

    “We always imagined we would open a store in New Zealand. It’s one of our founding markets, it’s where I am from and where our key material, wool, is from,” Allbirds co-founder Tim Brown said, according to Stuff.

    Allbirds makes its shoes predominantly with New Zealand merino wool, which helps to make them ‘the world’s most comfortable shoes’, the brand’s tagline.

    Wool uses 60 percent less energy than materials used in a synthetic shoe, according to the brand, which also uses recycled bottles for laces, bean oil in insoles and 90 percent recycled cardboard in its packaging.

    Allbirds are available internationally online, and through brick-and-mortar stores in the US, UK and China. The Britomart store is the brand’s first location in its home country of New Zealand.

    The 150sqm store offers the brand’s entire range, as well as limited-edition Auckland-inspired laces: Waiheke Island Teal, Light Path Magenta, and West Coast Black Sand.

    The retailer offered a number of events, such as dried flower arranging workshops, meditation classes and drawing classes, in the first week of the store’s operation.

    According to Brown, it is a challenge to transpose the brand’s online experience into an offline one.

    “Bad retail is being challenged and good retail, thoughtful retail that is about storytelling and leans into the people that work there, that has educated people working in that environment that understand the products and are able to give a good experience is old fashioned and important,” Brown said to

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