Dive Brief:
- Eyeing growth within the booming beauty industry, direct-to-consumer skincare brand InnBeauty Project announced Tuesday that it raised $12 million in a Series A funding round, according to a company press release.
- The funding round was led by Alliance Consumer Growth, with the inclusion of Strand Equity and Beechwood Capital. Julian Steinberg, ACG managing partner, will be joining InnBeauty Project’s board as part of the investment.
- InnBeauty Project said the capital will be put toward growing the company and expanding its partnership with Sephora, with plans to enter into the mass beauty retailer’s Canada operation during the first half of next year.
Dive Insight:
InnBeauty Project’s latest funding round shows that some investors are eager to capitalize on the company’s “clean” and “sustainable” branding.
“It’s an exciting time for the clean beauty industry and we are proud to support iNNBeauty Project, which is leading the charge and raising the bar for others in the space by delivering truly best-in-class formulas at an unbelievable price point,” Steinberg said in a statement “We look forward to working with the incredible management team to disrupt and democratize prestige skincare.”
Despite being sold at Sephora, which has historically housed prestige brands at higher price points, InnBeauty says its brand is focused on making sure customers aren’t “breaking the bank.” The brand was founded in 2019 by Alisa Metzger and Jen Shane. Since then, the brand says it’s reached “160% year-over-year growth” and is located in 517 Sephora stores, per the release.
Several digitally native beauty brands have expanded through wholesale deals with Sephora, such as Topicals and Glossier, and the industry overall has continued to grow despite inflationary pressure on consumers. A report from the NPD Group in August found that high-income shoppers had already spent close to $9 billion on beauty in 2022. Additionally, Ulta’s latest earnings report this month showed sales, comps and profits all grew by double digits.
Editor's note: An earlier version of this article misstated which round of funding InnBeauty Project had raised due to an incorrect company press release. It was a Series A funding round.
