Beauty / news
True Beauty Ventures Widens Pre-Launch Beauty and Wellness Bets With Third Fund
True Beauty Ventures is deepening its focus on beauty and wellness brands at the pre-launch stage as it raises a third fund. The investment firm says a broader health-and-wellness market and its track record are supporting the strategy.
The firm is now six years old and is raising its third fund while placing more emphasis on companies that have not yet launched. Its leadership is targeting the earliest stages of brand development across beauty and wellness.
Gersten described the current fundraising climate as more favorable than the environment around fund two, though the firm’s early-stage strategy remains harder to sell because its funds are smaller and perceived as riskier. Gersten said True Beauty Ventures has built a brand and a track record, and that contacts who passed on the firm in the past are re-engaging because it has delivered on its plans.
Gersten also pointed to the continued convergence of health and wellness with traditional beauty, saying it has widened the firm’s addressable market. That shift gives True Beauty Ventures room to diversify its portfolio and invest in categories it considers more interesting than conventional beauty segments.
Nuñez said wellness investments require a different lens. The firm looks for habitual use across every subcategory it targets, along with products that can demonstrate efficacy. That is tougher in wellness than in some beauty categories, where results can be visually evident.
Nuñez added that the firm wants to know whether a specific product can show efficacy immediately or within a short period. It also examines what happens when a consumer stops taking a product, including whether they notice a difference quickly.