Boston-based GoLive, which markets lines of freeze-dried probiotic powders and has minority ownership by Anheuser-Busch, unveiled specially configured "prebiotic + probiotic" line for Whole Foods, even as it continued to tinker with RTD format that it hopes eventually to grow to meaningful part of biz. After 18-month collab with Whole Foods, co recently launched "prebiotic + probiotic" supplement blends that will remain "in perpetuity" as captive WF item, founder/ceo Tim McKeown told us at recent Fancy Food Show in SF. Packed in 10-count boxes, the new line is broken into 2 sublines. It's offering Complete Daily Blends in Flavorless, Turmeric and Matcha Tea versions, containing 15 strains and over 15 bil cfu's, with the flavored entries unique to Whole Foods. Its GoLive Plus Functional Blends are being offered in Beauty Tonic, Women and Immunity entries containing 10 strains and over 25 bil cfu's. Beauty Tonic is augmented with biotin and collagen, among other ingredients, while Women adds biotin, boron, cranberry extract and iron, and Immunity adds Echinacea and N-acetyl cysteine. The sugar-free items are sweetened with monk fruit. Tho Whole Foods gets exclusive on all of these but the Flavorless, GoLive is working on other variants for retailers like Sprouts.

Cost-cutting at Sproutly Canada has cost prexy Bryan Semkuley his job, as cannabiz seeks to reduce losses and demonstrate its path to financial viability. Co announced today that it's "transitioning" the former InBev and Kimberly-Clark exec to strategic advisor, while also shifting coo Karin Studer to narrower role focused on regulatory and licensing steps for so-called Cannabis 2.0, including both Sproutly's own brands and those being developed in partnership with Moosehead Brewing. Dr Arup Sen, chief science officer, will add Studer's operations responsibilities to his role. "These changes will allow Sproutly to reduce monthly expenses and create an organization that operates more efficiently," said ceo Keith Dolo. "As we ramp up production of our Caliber brand, as well as look to the finalization and launch of the Moosehead joint venture, this new structure will allow us to operate a leaner organization that can narrowly focus in on driving revenue in 2020." The shifts were announced as SPR reported Q3 results indicating co suffered net loss of $1.44 mil on revenues of $641K in period ended Nov 30, with cash dwindling to $457K from $9.64 mil on Feb 28. Co decided not to host customary investor call "as it focuses its attention on the execution of operational priorities." Unusually, 3d-quarter release contains no financial info but directs investors to SEDAR data site to find and inspect actual financials on their own . . . With Carlos Kuri having left role as chief counsel of Red Bull North America in Dec for similar tho yet unannounced post at Heineken USA, RBNA has plucked his successor Djenaba Parker from its NY Red Bulls soccer team, Bloomberg reported, based on LinkedIn activity it spotted. She's following similar career trajectory to Kuri, whom she succeeded in legal job at Harrison, NJ, club. Parker's title is svp/general counsel at Santa Monica, Calif-based energy drink giant.

Count Hint Water among the interlopers at big Super Bowl ad party this Sun. The Bay Area-based bottled water brand has been advising its retail partners to erect big displays this weekend in anticipation of ad that will air during halftime of game. Advisory doesn't offer any details on scale of buy, but we hear it may be national. Tho it's not clear what creative will air, advisory shows screen grab from ad that debuted last fall that drops any notion of subtlety, depicting pair of food-splattered guys at pie-eating contest to make cause that the flavored water tastes more vibrant even than the pie fillings (BBI, Oct 28). Since subtlety is not at a premium on Bowl, ad would seem to fit right in alongside the noise generated by beer and soda extravaganzas, and expense of appearing would certainly make a statement for brand that's quietly motored past $100 mil in sales.

Experiencing strains in efforts to grow, Unilever is ready to revisit idea of spinning off part or all of its $3 bil tea unit, including its Lipton brand. With co's biz dominated by black tea at time that herbal alternatives continue to make rapid inroads in its more developed markets, "we will look at all options for the (tea) business," Unilever finance chief Graeme Pitkethly said after co's quarterly results revealed slowest growth in a decade, as Reuters reported. That was turnaround from prior stance of ceo Alan Jope, who'd said co was committed to turning around tea biz over longer term, as Reuters reminded. "The change of plan could soothe concerns of investors who have lamented a lack of urgency in transforming Unilever's struggling food and refreshment business," wire service noted. Of course, Unilever has maintained fruitful partnership with PepsiCo on RTD tea side for nearly 3 decades now, and bought Tazo brand from Starbucks after that co tilted RTD efforts to Teavana jv with Anheuser-Busch. Like other big food/bev players, the marketer of Lipton Tea, Hellman's Mayonnaise and Marmite has been hit as consumers in developed markets gravitate to healthier offerings bubbling up from smaller cos.

Probiotic soda marketer Olipop has raised nearly $10 mil in Series A round, per multiple media reports. Bay Area co whose brightly hued cans are becoming familiar sight in natural and specialty grocers procured the growth capital from current investors Monogram Capital Partners, Rocana Ventures, Finn Capital Partners, Boulder Food Group and Collaborative Fund as well as new investors Döhler Ventures and Terpsi Capital . . . Florida-based co called Evlution Nutrition has sued fellow Fla resident Celsius Holdings for use of phrase "BCAA Energy" on new fitness-oriented Celsius BCAA + Energy subline. Suit was filed last Fri in US District Court for Southern District of state, South Florida Biz Jnl reported. From court papers, it seemed that Evlution, which numbers BCAA Energy items among its best sellers, was particularly irked when Celsius staffers began handing out samples of new line in front of Evlution booth at Olympia Fitness & Performance Weekend last Sep, as paper reported. Biz

Two internal divisions of Anheuser-Busch InBev that are fueling co's exploration of new and emerging spaces - Zx Ventures and Anheuser-Busch's Innovation Group, which includes Apollo 11 pilot team - are continuing to grow in size and scope. Zx Ventures grew to $1 bil in revs, making up 10% of total net rev growth, and has enjoyed 50% CAGR since it launched 5 yrs ago, prexy Bernardo Novick shared with Insights Express, a sibling newsletter to BBI. Co is investing in everything from craft beer to beyond beer, e-commerce and other tech, as over 30 brands are listed on Zx's featured investment & portfolio page. On top of acquisitions and minority investments, Zx also building "organic ventures," Bernardo pointed out. Each summer Zx puts 10-15 ideas "through intense tests" and this has "become a key tool for us" to provide "sparks of innovation." That includes brands like Saturday Session wine testing in Wash and a few other states, Hoegaarden experimenting with non-alc styles, Perfect Draft in-home draft machine now in 70K homes with plans to "expand globally." Also gotta note, Zx set up interesting new structure for Zx brand managers/project leaders to have equity "directly linked to their venture," so they're incentivized just like a typical startup co. This way they can "operate as true owners," said Kombrewcha hard kombucha ceo Garrett Bredenkamp, in video. "Over the long run, that's why big companies get disrupted," he added. Zx is "prepared to keep investing" in both US and globally, while "learning from failures" and "moving with agility" to scale what's working, said Bernardo.

New England bottler Polar Beverages has picked up NA portfolio of Rogo in Hartford, Conn, area, broadening its geographic reach with several key brands via what svp sales John Wetzonis described as opportunistic transaction. Among brands it's picked up in Conn are Snapple, Sparkling Ice, Vita Coco and Hint, which can jump aboard Polar trucks already rolling thru area with brands like Polar, 7 Up and A&W. Deal adds more critical mass via brands that Polar already distributes in its other territories, John noted. Move comes as brands continue to ebb & flow within Polar system, in keeping with highly fluid state of biz these days. Tho still growing briskly within Polar, Body Armor will exit to regional Coca-Cola on Mar 1, following KO's acquisition of brand, putting Polar back in hunt for hydration options. It's already well represented on bottled water side, with brands like Essentia, Aquahydrate, Evian, Core and its own O Water brand picked up years ago from founder Tom First. O Water has just added unflavored 9.5 pH alkaline extension, which is being made available not just in Polar's own New England footprint but to any distribution partners for Polar seltzer brand elsewhere in US. Meanwhile, energy portfolio will be augmented soon with Adrenaline Shoc performance entry from Polar's core supplier, Keurig Dr Pepper, fleshing out mix that already includes C4, Uptime and KDP's Venom and Hydrive . . . Oxigen Beverages said it's recruited NY distributor Big Geyser to carry its oxygen-enhanced recovery bevs and shots. Launch will be backed starting Feb 3 by digital and out-of-home campaign via LA-based agency The Many along with field-marketing effort.

Danone's Silk plant-based brand has intro'd Silk Dairy-Free Half & Half Alternative using oatmilk as ingredient to provide flavor and texture that's close to dairy milk. Each serving has no added sugar, 1.5 g of fat and eschews dairy, nuts, artificial flavors and cholesterol. It's going out at $4.29 per 32-oz carton . . . Optimum Nutrition has launched packaged protein shake exclusively for GNC chain under name Gold Standard. Each 11-oz box delivers 24 g of whey-based protein, along with 5.5 g of branch-chain amino acids (BCAAs). Shelf-stable entry is being offered in Vanilla and Chocolate flavors at SRP of $3.29 per unit or $34.99 per 12-pack case . . . Suggesting that there's really nowhere that cold-brewed coffee can't go, Pernod Ricard is launching limited-time Jameson Irish Whiskey called Jameson Cold Brew that's infused with - yes, you guessed it. "When we started researching our next innovation, we didn't need to go far, as it had been under our nose all along," said brand di