What a difference a quarter can make in beauty deal activity. After the downright dire picture painted by Q2 activity in the late spring and early summer, Q3 came back roaring. The BeautyMatter Deal Index tracked 89 deals during the quarter and saw a much-needed resurgence in both growth and M&A transactions. For the quarter, deal activity was up 78.0% versus Q3 of last year, helping to propel YTD deal activity for 2024 into positive territory, up 18.4%. The most notable shift in momentum was in growth deals. In Q2, the Deal Index tracked just 16 growth deals, the lowest number since BeautyMatter started tracking this data. In Q3, we saw 42 growth deals (comprised of venture-backed deals and minority investments), which is a 162.5% increase from last quarter and a 44.8% increase versus Q3 of last year. This, no doubt, has earlier-stage beauty businesses breathing a sigh of relief as investors came back to beauty in a big way to fund the next generation of brands and innovation.
Beauty Deals: Investment + M&A Transactions Q3 2024:
