Art of Sport raised an oversubscribed funding round of $6 million led by CircleUp Growth Partners. Other investors in the round include Lightspeed Venture Partners, Bam Ventures, Darco Capital, Mark Cuban, and Wilson Chandler.
WHO: Skincare and grooming brand Art of Sport was co-founded by the late Kobe Bryant, former Honest Company co-founder Brian Lee, and entrepreneur Matthias Metternich in 2018. The brand launched DTC and has expanded to Amazon and Target with 14 stock keeping units priced between $6.95 to $12.95.
WHY: The funding will fuel product development, distribution expansion, and national marketing efforts online and offline.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: “Art of Sport has a first-to-market brand position and the type of business fundamentals that are pivotal to accelerated, healthy growth,” Benjamin Lee, Managing Director at CircleUp Growth Partners, told Beauty Independent. “With their momentum, authentic connection to their community, and differentiated product offerings, the company is ready to lead the personal care industry into a new era.”
“We want to find a couple of horses that are getting the right productivity, double down on those SKUs and constantly improve them to make them true leaders in the category,” Matthias Metternich told Beauty Independent. He said a women’s line is in the product roadmap. “We feel that female athletes are looking for a brand that recognizes their movement and their existence in a way that’s not patronizing or just beauty-centric.”
Metternich forecast it will break even this year. “Hoping for the outcome too early in the process, and that guiding the way you raise capital and the expectations you have for your team can sometimes become a suffocating priority, where the goal should be to build a good, profitable business and, then, you have the opportunity to sell to a strategic or continue down the path of owning your own destiny,” he said. “That’s an adjustment for the Valley, but we are seeing it more now.”
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