Rémy Cointreau has acquired a minority stake in French non-alc spirits company JNPR, joining other major spirit groups with bids on the growing category.
The deal was finalized Thursday and announced Friday in the company’s quarterly earnings report. Rémy Cointreau’s Corporate Ventures, a venture fund launched in 2024, made the investment. Financial terms were not disclosed.
“This investment aligns with Rémy Cointreau’s strategy of anticipating and testing emerging consumption trends, such as fast-growing demand for alcohol-free alternatives in France and internationally,” read a company statement.
Founded in 2020 by Valérie de Sutter, JNPR quickly established itself as a leading brand thanks to its wide range of non-alcoholic spirits — in particular the JNPR collection, featuring distilled recipes with no sugar. Its products are crafted in France from high-quality ingredients, and feature a juniper-based botanical line consisting of JNPR No 1, No 2 and No 3; an aperitif line of BTTR No 1, RHHM No 1, SPRZ No 1, VRMH No 1; and a JNPR Sugar Free Tonic RTD.
With this investment, JNPR will be able to accelerate its development in France and in select international markets, according to the statement. Under the terms of the agreement, Rémy Cointreau Corporate Ventures will contribute operational expertise in distribution and marketing, “while fully preserving the creative and entrepreneurial independence of the founder and her teams.”
Remy Cointreau now follows the lead of other major groups putting more attention on the nearly $1 billion adult non-alc market. In September 2024, Diageo added non-alc spirit Ritual Zero Proof to its portfolio which includes ANA leaders Guinness 0.0 and Seedlip. Targets from other groups have been all over the map, from Constellation Brands’ acquisition of functional soda Hiyo to Pernod Ricard’s minority stake in agave spirit replacement, Almave. Campari recently introduced Crodino, a zero-proof ready-to-serve spritz, to the U.S. as its first Stateside foray into the growing category.
The investment comes as the French spirits group reported its first quarterly sales growth in two years, credited to a double-digit sales rise in the Americas.