Clean color brand Kosas secures Series B funding to fuel growth. The round was led by Stripes with participation from existing investors.

WHO: Color cosmetics brand Kosas was founded in 2015 by Sheena Yaitanes with the purpose to cultivate beauty on every level and offer women barrier-breaking formulations with universal appeal. Yaitanes, who trained as a fine artist and is also a chemist, was introduced to makeup at a young age by her mother who repped Clinique and Clarins. Her unique background and expertise was the lens through which the brand was founded. Kosas products are consciously formulated with premium ingredients and botanically rich formulas that flatter a true range of skin tones. The name Kosas comes from the five interconnected layers, or “Kosas,” of the self: the physical, energetic, mental, intellectual, and soul.

WHY: Kosas plans to deploy the funding to continue building its 26-person team with the addition of a chief marketing officer and sales staff to support the Sephora business. New products are also in the works.

IN THEIR OWN WORDS: “This series B is very important to us, and it’s different from our series A, which was just when we were getting a foothold in the marketplace. Now, we have really strong distribution partners and a deep community of really amazing people that are really connected to the brand. This series B is about building the company that will help us scale the brand,” Yaitanes told Beauty Independent. “It was important for us to partner with people who really understand the formula behind scaling a consumer brand.”

Karen Kenworthy, a partner at Stripes, told Beauty Independent, “Kosas stands for everything we believe in as investors in consumer brands—a strong and unique brand voice, a passionate founder who is adamant on product differentiation and efficacy, remarkable innovative DNA, and just great product. They’re building their clean product line around a makeup-meets-skincare ethos with a focus on inclusivity, simplicity and quality.”

DETAILS:

• Kosas secured a Series B funding round led by Stripes with participation from existing investors Scooter Braun’s TQ Ventures, Leandra Medine and Abe Cohen of ManRepeller, and Arielle and Brandon Charnas fo Something Navy along with Series A investors CircleUp, Beechwood Capital, and Imaginary Ventures.
• Terms of the transaction were not released.
• In May 2018 the brand raised a Series A round in the amount of $2 million, according to Crunchbase.
• According to WWD, industry sources say the business was up more than 400% for 2019, bringing total retail sales to around $20 million. Projections for 2020 show the business nearly tripling to between $50 million and $60 million in retail sales.
• Kosas launched at Sephora on the Clean at Sephora endcap in all 497 doors in 2019. Toward the end of the year, the brand expanded to its own endcap in 45 doors, and is slated to roll endcaps into 50 more doors in February.
• The brand told Beauty Independent it’s the number 5 clean cosmetics brand on Sephora’s website and the number 4 clean cosmetics brand in its stores.
• Kosas is also sold at Mecca in Australia, where it will expand its presence, Credo, Goop, The Detox Market, and Cult Beauty, and is looking to identify a brick-and-mortar retail partner in the UK this year.
• Financo advised Kosas on the raise.