Hey Cowboys,
Happy Wednesday! We’re bringing you a fresh round of DTC, retail, tech, and ecommerce news to unpack this week.
LIVE NOW — come hang out on X or YouTube.
Today’s lineup 👇 and stories.
How Smart Brands Win Before BFCM
Today we’re beaking down what DTC brands should measure, how they can scale profitably, and why memorable IRL marketing still wins attention.
Nate Lagos - Founder, Shootin’ Doubles
Steve Rekuc - Director of Data, Common Thread Collective
Erika Lee - Head of Brand, Corgi
David Protein’s $2.2B Valuation
Medici Brands Raises $250 Million Series B at $2.2 Billion Valuation Medici Brands, parent of David Protein and candy brand HallPass, announced a $250 million Series B on Tuesday valuing the company at $2.2 billion. The round was co-led by Greenoaks and Valor Equity Partners, with participation from CEO Peter Rahal, ICONIQ, and Imaginary Ventures.
The Rundown:
The valuation is roughly triple the $725 million mark from David's $75 million Series A in May 2025, which Greenoaks and Valor also backed.
David launched in September 2024 with a single protein bar (28g protein, 150 calories, 0g sugar) and has since expanded into frozen dessert and ready-to-drink shakes, now selling in more than 35,000 retail locations including Walmart, Target, and Costco.
The company says it will pass $300 million in revenue in 2026, making it the fastest food company to reach that milestone.
HallPass, a lower-calorie candy brand, launched nationwide at Walmart in August. A third brand, Rowdy, is planned for later this year.
The capital will fund HallPass retail expansion, new David products, and infrastructure for launching additional brands. Rahal previously sold RXBAR to Kellogg's for $600 million.
The raise turns Medici into a multi-brand house with David as the anchor and HallPass and Rowdy carrying its low-calorie formula into new categories, at more than three times its valuation from a year ago.
Top Stories: Youtube & Amazon Partnership, Zuck’s AI Warpath, and No More College Kids?
Youtube Creators Can Tag Amazon Products- YouTube has signed Amazon as its newest affiliate partner in YouTube Shopping, allowing creators to tag Amazon products directly in videos and livestreams and earn a commission on resulting sales. YouTube Shopping chief Travis Katz called it the world's biggest online retailer joining the most-used app on the internet, and said Amazon was one of creators' most-requested partners.
Zuck is Back- Meta’s Muse Voice Transcribe: $0.18/hr- Meta Superintelligence Labs released Muse Voice Transcribe, its first real-time audio perception model, combining streaming speech-to-text, speaker separation, and endpointing in a single system. Mark Zuckerberg announced the rollout on X, and the model is priced at $3 per 1,000 audio minutes through the Meta Model API, or about 18 cents per hour.
Trend: College Running Out of Students - American colleges are heading into a long-term enrollment decline after the population of 18-year-olds peaked last year, with undergraduate enrollment projected to fall 13% over the next 15 years, according to the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. The squeeze is already forcing closures at small schools and budget shortfalls at name-brand universities.
Identify Your Site Traffic with Tie
Quick number that should bug every DTC operator listening:
Klaviyo only recognizes about a third of your returning shoppers.
Everyone else browses anonymously and your flows sit idle.
Tie identifies up to 70% of your total site traffic and pushes those shoppers into the flows you already run.
Caraway used Tie's Predict scoring to lift opens 40% and clicks 30% while sending 20% fewer emails.
Same stack, zero dev work.
→ Book a walkthrough at https://wm.meettie.com/cowboy/ and when you do, tell them the Cowboy sent you.
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Made Possible By:
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Seguno - the Shopify-native marketing suite for brands that run it themselves.
Postscript - Make more money from every SMS message.
Outersignal- Know Your Customers. Grow Your Business.
Northbeam - Measure the “unmeasurable,” make your marketing profitable.
Rokt Aftersell - More profit from the orders you’re already getting.
Universal Ads - TV ads that deliver for performance marketers.
Richpanel - The AI helpdesk that saves you headaches (and money).
SATHI - Affiliate attribution beyond last-click commissions.
Slash - A better business banking platform.
Trendtrack - Track competitors' winning marketing strategies daily.
Tie - The internet’s #1 shopper ID platform.
Proppel - The best recruitment agency for ecom brands and agencies.
See you on the stream,
Ecomm Cowboy Team