Peace Out Skincare has gained a minority investment, to the tune of $20 million.
The brand, which has sold more than 50 million of its acne dots to date, has gained its first outside investment. The firm 5th Century Partners invested $20 million in the brand, which will go toward building out personnel as well as retail expansion and new categories.
Over the five years since its inception, Peace Out said it has become the top-selling acne brand in Sephora, where it is available in key markets like Canada, Europe, the U.K., the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand, in addition to its own website and Amazon. Industry sources estimate the brand’s sales to reach between $50 million and $60 million globally at retail in 2022.
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Sales across channels were moving positively, according to Enrico Frezza, the brand’s founder, though he didn’t comment on the estimate.
“With the investment, we are able to hire for a few strategic positions across sales, finance and get more marketing team members,” he said. “Especially with digital, it’s becoming an expanding focus for us. Organic social became a huge part of our business to drive sales.”
Also on the docket is a robust pipeline of new products. This year Peace Out ventured into complexion with a pore corrector. Frezza said the brand’s usual output of newness — four or so stock keeping units a year — would double with the investment.
“We’re going to double down on product development and work on tighter timelines, down to being able to buy in larger quantities,” he said. “Also, with the competitive landscape where everything is getting so expensive, we felt we weren’t able to build a lot with brand awareness or sampling our competitors were doing. That’s going to be great for us to be able to do now.”
To Frezza’s point, WWD reported that digital marketing costs and minimum order quantities are among the costliest barriers for beauty brands looking to scale.
Added Catie Bennett, managing director at 5th Century Partners, in a statement, “Our collaboration with Peace Out is driven by our shared passion to create positive impact for communities as well as Peace Out’s emphasis on inclusion, which aligns with 5th Century Partners’ belief that diversity is a core tenet of financial success. Peace Out is a rapidly growing business that delivers superior products, and we look forward to partnering with the team to expand on the incredible momentum they have built over the last five years.”