Industry Blog
Unilever Ventures, the venture capital and private equity arm of Unilever, demonstrated an increasing appetite for the Beauty Care sector, announcing two investments last week: Blow Ltd. and Nutrafol. Founded in 2002, Unilever Ventures seeks to invest in early stage companies and accelerate growth by providing access to Unilever’s global platform and expertise. Unilever Ventures targets primarily minority investments ranging from €250 thousand to €15 million in Europe, North America and Asia. Within beauty care, Unilever Ventures is focused on cosmeceuticals, nutraceuticals, professional skin care, natural skin and hair care, beauty devices, hair loss and scalp health, male grooming and digitally enabled beauty businesses. To date, Unilever Ventures has invested approximately €450 million in over 40 companies.
Unilever announced a €3.5 million investment in Blow. Founded in 2013 by Fiona McIntosh, previous Editor-in-Chief of Grazia and ELLE, and Dharmash Misty, Blow is an app-based provider of on-demand beauty care services. The company provides makeup, nails and blow dry services directly to customers’ doors, with more than 120,000 beauty services delivered to date. The investment will support Blow’s expansion in the U.K.
Unilever Ventures led the Series A financing round in Nutrafol. Founded in 2015, Nutrafol develops nutraceutical supplements for healthy hair growth for men and women sold through physician, salon and eCommerce channels. The investment provides Unilever strategic access to a double-digit growth category while furthering Nutrafol’s scientific research, product development, and channel expansion.
Other Unilever Ventures beauty care investments include REN Skincare, Iluminage Beauty, LXMI, Lumi, True Botanicals, CyDen, IOMA PARIS, Lumene, Sachajuan and SPA & Salon International.