On Thursday, masstige hair care brand Odele announced it received an undisclosed minority investment from Stride Consumer Partners, a private equity firm known for investments in Tatcha, First Aid Beauty, Patrick Ta and Drybar.
Stride’s stake will include two board seats. Odele cofounders Britta Chatterjee, Lindsay Holden and Shannon Kearney will remain majority shareholders.
”We explored every possible option from continuing to go on a line of credit, to raising more permanent debt, to continuing to just bootstrap the business because that was still an option for us. We cast a pretty wide net, and what we were really looking for was a partner to join us at the boardroom table. It was really about finding the right partner that saw brand building the same way we did; that wasn’t going to be in a massive rush for growth,” said Chatterjee.
Launched in 2020, Odele earns 90 percent of its sales revenue from wholesale partners Target, Ulta Beauty and CVS. The brand projects sales of over $30 million for 2023 and more than $40 million in 2024. The new investment will be used for marketing, talent and product innovation.
While private equity-backed beauty brands have had varying degrees of success, Chatterjee said, “We’re going to try a lot of things and not everything is going to work. That was part of what drove … an equity decision … because every time we looked at debt, that carrying cost of interest was just too great to justify.”
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Mass Brands Are the Next Wave of Beauty M&A
Lines found in Target, CVS and Walmart have found success with stylish packaging and ingredient-forward storytelling at a low price point. That makes them hot commodities for would-be acquirers.
