Brandless Raises $118M to Accelerate Growth, Acquisitions
Brandless, the health, wellness and home products retailer, announced a $118 million round of funding, as it continues to build back operations.
The company’s mission is to sell its own products that are backed by its better-for-you ingredients, free of more than 400 suspect ingredients, and free of branding, so to speak. The company previously ceased after a short run under SoftBank’s Vision Fund but returned last summer with the help of Damon Burton, president of SEO National, who helped bring the site back but is no longer involved.
The latest funding round was led by Clarke Capital Partners, aiming to accelerate growth of the company and a newer strategy of acquiring mission-driven digitally-native brands to add to its offerings.
Cydni Tetro, CEO of Brandless, said the company is uniting mission-oriented brands and micro-influencers through technology. Tetro also led what Brandless called one of the largest funding rounds raised by a woman.
“Brandless is transforming commerce by creating influence-as-a-service and democratizing access to better-for-you products,” she said.
The funding will enable the company to acquire more digitally-native brands that share the Brandless mission of products that are better for people and the environment. The funding will also enable Brandless to activate their already thriving community by giving individuals the opportunity to become social influencers who can advocate for their favorite products and monetize their social presence, per the company.
The Brandless community drives product development and validation, and is the basis for an influence-as-a-service to make each member a force for good to further the company’s focus on collaboration over control, quality over packaging and people over promotion, Brandless added.
“We have millions of customers, thousands of new product requests, hundreds of products and categories and dozens of marketplace partners. And now, with Cydni and her proven leadership, we have an unprecedented ability to realize this transformative multichannel vision,” said James Clarke, managing partner and CEO of Clarke Capital. “We are committed to making it easy for people to make good choices when it comes to their health and well-being. Our acquisitions of better-for-you, digitally-native brands will expand our footprint.”
Brandless is based in the Silicon Slopes region of Utah. “Clarke Capital is well known in the Consumer Packaged Goods space, as they’ve taken companies from millions to billions,” said Tetro. “The Clarke team understands how to successfully build and scale product portfolios in a technology-driven marketplace. They’ve been an incredible partner to Brandless, helping us expand our portfolio and strengthen our acquisition strategy to support companies who are committed to disrupting the status quo.”
