Launched: 2015
Founder:
Key Executives:
Points of distribution projected globally for 2024: ~2,000
Projected revenue 2024: $30 to $50 million, according to industry estimates.
Primary Category: SPF
Other Categories: Facial Skincare, Body Care
Key Markets: United States
Retail Partnerships: Ulta Beauty
Primary Distribution Channel: Prestige
Other Distribution Channels:
Funding Rounds: Private Equity
In 2019, Kopari Beauty closed a $20 million funding round from the Growth Fund of L Catterton, Unilever Ventures and San Diego-based University Growth Fund, among other investors.
In January 2017, L Catterton invested in Kopari with celebrity investors Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis, Jared Leto, Karlie Kloss, Hilary Duff, and Shay Mitchell in a $15 million funding round.
Notable Investors / Funding Partners: L Catterton
Notable Advisors / Board Members: James Brennan, serial entrepreneur
Kopari launched in 2015 as one of the first clean beauty brands in the category. Today we provide body care, skincare, and personal care utilizing nature’s best ingredients combined with clinical actives for efficacious solutions from head to toe, culminating in the perfect beauty paradise.
Insights provided by Susan Kim, CEO of Kopari
What are some of your key business initiatives for 2024?
We are focused on solidifying leadership in the SPF category by redefining the expectation of what sunscreen can and should be through our innovative SPF formulas that go above and beyond to merge both function and beauty.
What are you most proud of having accomplished since the business has launched?
When Kopari was founded in 2015, it was a darling of the direct to consumer (DTC) era. However, subsequently, DTC-upstart brands struggled with iOS14 as well as Covid, creating unsustainably high acquisition costs, and brands found themselves on the defensive with shorter runways. Kopari is the antithesis of that story. We are an example of a brand that reset its foundation, rearticulated who it is for and why we exist, and now turned into an amazing comeback story.
Because Kopari has been around for a bit, there is a perception that sales took a dip. There certainly was some volatility during Covid, as with many other DTC brands. However, we are the exception to the demise of DTC brands. We have actually shown that with the right innovation, brand trust, and product/market fit, you can scale efficient customer acquisition.
What has been the biggest surprise since the brand was founded?
Not so much a surprise, but more so an insight. No matter how genius the tactics are, the fundamental right to win depends on innovation fit with the consumer base.
What aspect of your brand DNA fuels your competitive advantage?
We create Moments of Paradise that culminate into an aspirational yet approachable lifestyle brand. Our founders pioneered one of the first clean beauty brands in the category and surpassed the clean beauty standards set by leading retailers like Ulta and Sephora. This deep-rooted trust from our customers allows us to traverse categories and permits us to innovate across different categories. We understand our customers look to us to transport them on a dreamy escape with each of our products. Throughout the R&D process, we aim to craft formulations that push the boundaries on effectiveness, sensorial experiences, and how natural ingredients can be leveraged.
Please share your insight on the future of the beauty industry.
What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
We live in a world of KPIs. What is the KPI of your life? And make sure that every single day, you live to fulfill that KPI. My KPI went from career accomplishments to impacting the lives I encounter, my team.
What is the best mistake you've ever made and what did you learn?
Believing that if you build or make it, the consumers will come (ie., international expansion). No, we have to build the engine to create awareness, demand, consideration, and community.
Paying it forward, what advice would you give to someone contemplating launching a beauty brand?
Thoughtfulness on the foundation of the brand: Why do you exist? What are you solving for? What is the DNA? And how does that go into everything that you do?
If you could change one thing in the beauty industry what would it be?
As an industry, I believe that we should accelerate our focus on sustainability. Within beauty and across categories, there is continued heavy use of nonrecyclable plastics, such as acrylic, that are utilized for their “luxurious feel” despite the fact that there are more sustainable options like PP or even PCR. I’m reminded of this on a daily basis as I take morning walks on the beaches of La Jolla and see microplastics among the sea life. We, as an industry, have a heavy hand in contributing to this, and it is our responsibility to take greater strides to shift practices.
