Partnering for CPG Brand Growth

Partnering for Growth

Historically, the largest CPG companies turned to geographical expansion as a reliable avenue of growth but now, growth frequently comes from flexible new business models or entirely new categories. In fact, according to research from Accenture, the top 20 consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies are estimated to grow five times slower than their smaller category competitors over the next five years, putting the pressure on legacy CPGs to embrace new methods of finding the “next big thing.”  

As a result, investment dollars, across multiple financial sectors, are flowing in the direction of innovation and new business. Here are just a few different ways the world’s largest companies are prioritizing innovation: 

• 35% of Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) deployed in 2021 went to adjacent categories and new business models.
• 75% of global executives say that innovation stakes have never been higher.
• More than $5.5 billion was invested into CPG brands from 2015 to 2019. In the last three years, US venture capitalist firms have increased the number of investments and the amount going to the smallest players (less than $10M).

Helio for M&A 

Executive teams turn to Helio’s proprietary data for M&A.

“Two decades of research show that, while large deals still have their place, programmatic M&A strategies continue to create gains in excess total returns to shareholders, at lower levels of risk.” (McKinsey) 

As the goal of programmatic M&A becomes a main focus for CPGs trying to unlock new growth, we hear over and over again that teams struggle to scale their search for emerging brands with high potential. Because of this, they miss out on opportunities simply because they can’t see them. When they finally do, they’ve either missed the opportunity entirely or are paying too much for it. 

With Helio data, we help our customers see more of the market than anyone else and put them in a position to act fast so they can work with the best companies and get the best deals.

Helio’s data library includes 2.5M+ brands, 16M+ attributes, and more than 150 unique data metrics per brand.

M&A teams love using Helio to find brands that meet their specific investment criteria to either track over time as they hit key growth thresholds, or reach out directly if there is a strong reason to get in touch.

Here is an example of how we helped a Fortune 500 personal care CPG use Helio to identify a number of new investment targets which which they’re now building relationships and continuously tracking in their watchlist database. 

Helio for Innovation 

“Innovation is central to the mission, values, and agenda of most consumer-packaged-goods (CPG) companies. However, in the last several years, incumbent CPGs have struggled to keep pace with start-ups, which have reinvigorated and reinvented categories.” (McKinsey)

McKinsey’s analysis of the food and beverage market from 2013–17 revealed that the top 25 manufacturers are responsible for 59 percent of sales but only 2 percent of category growth. Conversely, 44 percent of category growth has come from the next 400 manufacturers.

As the concept of transforming into a “Creator Company” becomes a main focus for CPGs trying to unlock new growth, we hear over and over that innovation teams struggle to triangulate “the next big thing,” with their existing teams and data sets and if only they had a crystal ball to peer into the future of their category and adjacent categories, they would create the next big thing.  

Helio data helps companies triangulate “the next big thing” using Helio’s integrated database of more than 200+ sources (including offline sales and distribution, DTC sales, e-Commerce sales, paid and organic web performance, social media engagement and consumer review data), so they can find problems to solve for consumers, identify whitespace, and move faster than anyone else in the market to create and launch.

Schedule a call with our team to learn how we used TikTok data to help a Fortune 500 beverage CPG use Helio to triangulate the next big flavor trend amongst GenZ consumers. 

Summary 

89% of CPG executives view data as an enabler of their strategic priorities, Helio helps CPG executives invest, innovate, and grow with confidence using data. 

If you feel like your current data is leaving you flying blind to innovation, investment, or growth opportunities, we’d love to see if we can help you. 

The team here at CircleUp started has used Helio data to inform investments in our top performing venture fund where we’ve invested over $150M in brands including Liquid IV (acquired by Unilever), Supergoop (acquired byBlackstone), 4505 (acquired by Benistar), as well as to lend to more than $1B in loans to companies such as  Beyond Meat and Hippeas, all with <2% losses. We believe strongly in this data asset and in using data to inform strategic decision-making across the CPG landscape. 

Get in touch to see how your team can use Helio to grow!