Mented Cosmetics has closed a $5 million Series A round led by Corazon Capital and CircleUp Growth Partners.
WHO: Mented (short for "pigmented") Cosmetics was founded by Harvard Business School classmates Amanda Johnson and KJ Miller. The brand started taking pre-orders for their first products in January 2017, but officially launched in March 2017. Mented is a range of nude lipsticks that is vegan, nontoxic, and formulated especially for women of color. The brand has expanded to a full makeup line, with foundation being the bestseller followed by lip products.
WHY: Mented plans to use the capital infusion to build the team and expand distribution with Ulta Beauty and Target, and begin an international rollout.
DETAILS:
- Mented Cosmetics closed a $5 million Series A led by Corazon Capital and CircleUp Growth Partners.
- The business projects the retail business will triple in 2022, and DTC sales will increase by 60%.
- The brand will focus on international distribution as well as expanding into more Ulta Beauty (487 doors to 587) and Target (293 doors to 515) stores.
- Mented plans to hire a head of growth, head of finance, and head of brand marketing by the end of 2022, which will bring head count to 15.
- In 2018, Mented raised a $3 million seed round from lead investor CircleUp Growth Partners.
- Mented raised a pre-seed $1MM round of funding that came from a mix of VC firms and angel investors including iSeed Ventures; Built by Girls; Corazon Capital; Outbound Ventures; BAM Ventures; and Blue Seed Collective in October of 2017.
- In March 2017, the founders started the business with $10,000-$15,000 of their own money and handmade samples.
