Too Faced Gains a New Investor, and It’s Not Estee Lauder

Too Faced Gains a New Investor, and It's Not Estee Lauder

Several weeks ago it was reported that cruelty free brand Too Faced was up for sale and cosmetics giant Esteé Lauder was one of the prospective buyers. This concerned many about the potential change in status for Too Faced – if Esteé Lauder purchased them, would Too Faced remain cruelty free? After several weeks of silence from the brand, news has emerged that Too Faced has a new investor, and it’s not Esteé Lauder. General Atlantic, a global investment firm, has acquired the majority stakeholding in Too Faced.

Continue reading Too Faced Gains a New Investor, and It’s Not Estee Lauder!

General Atlantic is a leading global growth equity firm providing capital and strategic support for growth companies. Established in 1980, General Atlantic combines a collaborative global approach, sector specific expertise, a long-term investment horizon and a deep understanding of growth drivers to partner with great entrepreneurs and management teams to build exceptional businesses worldwide. General Atlantic is also invested in Zagat, Fandango, BuzzFeed, Squarespace, Box, Bazaarvoice, and more. Looking at their portfolio, it does not appear that they are invested in any other cosmetics brands.

Too Faced’s co-founders, Jerrod Blandino and Jeremy Johnson, will continue to be involved in the company. Jerrod will be the chief creative officer and Jeremy the chief executive officer. The Wall Street Journal reported that General Atlantic seeks to expand the distribution of Too Faced into overseas markets and online, but it is still unclear if this means that the brands cruelty free stance could be impacted. Too Faced is currently not sold internationally but is highly demanded in the EU.

Logical Harmony has reached out to Too Faced and General Atlantic for comment. However, the continued involvement of the original founders does seem promising as they are both very vocal about how important being cruelty free is to the brand.

Too Faced Cosmetics and General Atlantic Announce Partnership and Strategic Growth Investment

06.04.2015

Too Faced to build on strong momentum as a founder-led prestige beauty brand, aided by investment from leading global growth investor

General Atlantic to partner with management to help lead continued innovation, growth, and global expansion

Irvine, CA and New York, NY – June 4, 2015 – Too Faced Cosmetics, a leading global beauty brand, and General Atlantic, a leader in global growth investing, announced today the launch of a new partnership in which General Atlantic will acquire a majority stake in the company from Weston Presidio.

‘We built Too Faced with the idea that makeup is power and should be fun, not intimidating—and our brand acceptance today proves that women everywhere share our belief in the transformative power of makeup,’ said Jeremy Johnson, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Too Faced.

Mr. Johnson continued: ‘We are so grateful to our loyal Too Faced customers who have fueled our growth from a small indie brand to a fixture within the beauty industry. To continue our growth trajectory, we were seeking a global thought leader experienced in partnering with founder-led, high growth companies, and the team at General Atlantic was a natural fit. Their experience will help us accelerate our expansion as we invite even more women around the world to ‘own their pretty.’’

Jerrod Blandino and Jeremy Johnson were both working behind cosmetics counters at major department stores when they created Too Faced in 1998. They were so inspired by makeup’s transformative power that they set out to inject joy into an industry that had become rigid and led by rules by creating a brand that celebrates and empowers women.

Jerrod Blandino, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer said: ‘We always dreamed that Too Faced would grow into the global brand and industry leader that it is today. After 17 years, we feel blessed to still be passionate about what we do and have fun doing it. We have so much admiration and respect for our ‘Too Faced Girl’ and with General Atlantic’s partnership, we’re excited to continue making high quality makeup that she loves to wear.’

Thanks to its innovative products, empowering brand message, and longstanding relationships with top beauty retailers, Too Faced enjoys tremendous channel momentum, which has resulted in record sales and an unparalleled opportunity to reach even more customers seeking to express their individuality through makeup. Too Faced is the only cosmetics brand that was named to the Top 25 Most Innovative Consumer Brands by CircleUp in Entrepreneur magazine and it continually ranks in the top five on Tribe Dynamics’ Earned Media Value Leader Board. The brand will build on its momentum as a rising star in the prestige beauty space by continuing to work closely with its valued retail partners to reach a growing audience of women that spans age, demographics, and geographic footprint.

‘Too Faced is one of the largest independent cosmetic brands with phenomenal momentum led by an outstanding and deep management team,’ said Andrew Crawford, Managing Director and Global Head of General Atlantic’s Retail & Consumer sector. ‘With such a prominent presence in specialty beauty retail, Too Faced is uniquely positioned to capitalize on this channel’s growing popularity with consumers. We look forward to working with Too Faced’s proven management team, led by industry game changers Jeremy and Jerrod and President Eric Hohl. Their passion for innovating beauty is unrivaled and has driven extraordinary business success.’

Jeff Mills, Managing Partner of Main Post Partners and a partner with Weston Presidio, concurred, ‘We couldn’t be more proud of the entire Too Faced team who, alongside our adviser Michael McNamara, quadrupled the size of the business during our investment term to build the leading independent color brand. We are delighted that they have found a new, world-class partner to take the business to even higher heights.’

In conjunction with General Atlantic’s investment, beauty industry veteran Ken Stevens will join as Too Faced’s Chairman, bringing a wealth of experience as former Chairman of Ulta Beauty, former Chief Executive Officer of philosophy, and former President of Bath & Body Works. Andrew Crawford and Andrew Ferrer, both senior leaders on General Atlantic’s Global Retail & Consumer sector team, will also join the Board of Directors.

The Too Faced founders and senior management team will retain significant ownership in the company. The investment is subject to customary regulatory review. Too Faced was advised by Piper Jaffray & Co., Intrepid Investment Bankers LLC, and Kirkland & Ellis LLP. General Atlantic was advised by Financo and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. Financing for the transaction is being arranged by KeyBanc Capital Markets.

4 Comments

  1. do you think the fact that Andrew Crawford and Andrew Ferrer (Chief Executive Officer of philosophy and former President of Bath & Body Works) will affect in some way? since their brands are not cruelty-free?

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