Mexican botanical bath and body care brand Nopalera has raised $2.7 million in an oversubscribed seed funding round.
WHO: Founded by Sandra Velasquez in 2020 with a mission of transforming consumer views on the role of Mexican ingredients and culture in the beauty industry, Nopalera is a line of luxury Mexican botanicals for bath and body sold in Nordstrom, Credo Beauty, Whole Foods, and 400 independent retailers.
WHY: The investment will give the business a runway as it confronts a possible recession, fund inventory, and build out its team.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS: "Our investment in Nopalera is grounded in Sandra's bottom-up product knowledge, data-driven discipline, and unwavering vision and drive to lead with cultural and personal authenticity. We are excited to bring the entire ecosystem of LAT VC to expand her growth, distribution, and success," said Kennie Blanco, L'Attitude Ventures General Partner and Chief Investment Officer.
"Now we are really going to be able to play in the arena I want to play in," Velasquez told Beauty Independent. "Having capital in the bank allows us to go and pursue the retailers we want to partner with and grow our national presence. That's really hard without capital. If you see a brand in Sephora that's self-funded, that means they are already rich. You can't bootstrap your way into Sephora without starting with something."
"I started this company with about negative $100,000. I had $80,000 in student loans, $30,000 in personal debt. I started this business to make money, not because I had money lying around," says Velasquez. "I made the products myself for the first year because I was a beauty industry outsider. I didn't have a network or connections."
TRIBE DYNAMICS EMV: While Nopalera reeled in just $208.6K EMV in Q4, this total represented an 8% QoQ growth, as well as a 52% YoY improvement. The bath and botanicals brand, which boasts products inspired by Mexico, earned mentions from 101 creators across 203 posts, enjoying respective 35% and 22% QoQ improvements in these two metrics. Roughly 75% ($153.1K EMV) of Nopalera’s quarterly total was generated by creators who hadn’t posted about the brand in Q3. Advocates like Univision Noticias (@uninoticias on Instagram), Ana Patricia Gámez (@anapatriciatv), and Jessica Alba (@jessicaalba), all of whom were incoming ambassadors who ranked among Nopalera’s top Q4 earners, shared posts supporting the brand and spreading the word about other Latinx-owned businesses.
DETAILS:
