Following Glossier's latest funding, Memebox has received Series C Extension funding of $60 million, adding to 2016's busy investment and M&A environment.
Memebox, which like other beauty innovators is a Y Combinator graduate, has also appointed Janet Gurwitch of Castanea Partners to its advisory board. She previously served as CEO of Laura Mercier, which was acquired by Shiseido in July.
"Our young customer base gravitates to content-driven brand experiences over basic e-commerce platforms translated to mobile."
At Memebox, Gurwitch will advise the company on brand strategy, positioning and developing new retail partnerships for Membox's four in-house brands (Bonvivant, Nooni, I'M Meme and Pony Effect) in the U.S. market. Notably, the brands have grown 60% quarter-over-quarter since launching.
Where Gurwitch goes, growth and acquisitions follow. In her career she has been on the boards of Drybar, Urban Decay and First Aid Beauty, and helped advise a little startup called Dollar Shave Club.
"At its core, Memebox is dedicated to delighting this generation of customers who care deeply about beauty and skincare."
The latest funding for Memebox came from new investors like Goodwater Capital, Altos Ventures, Cowboy Ventures, Mousse Partners, Formation Group, Funders Club, Pear Ventures, Cota Capital and Janet Gurwitch. Since 2012, Memebox has raised $160 million.
The latest investment will help fund:
- A streamlining of Memebox's mobile shopping platform (its mobile app represents more than 88% of its global online transactions, with more than 94% of customers in Asia shopping through the app)
- A database of ingredients and products
- Global expansion
Meanwhile, Memebox USA opened its first holiday pop-up shop in San Francisco's Union Square and will distribute its Bonvivant line of sheet masks in-store and online at Opening Ceremony.
"Our investment in our own facilities, combined with our startup ethos, has allowed us to quickly evolve to meet market demand for innovative and effective beauty worldwide."
"Memebox has been focused on bringing innovative, high quality and approachable beauty to consumers worldwide," said CEO Hyungseok Dino Ha. "We are a global company with offices in six different countries with 14 different nationalities. We've been focused on growing our operations in Asia - particularly in China - but with this funding we plan to streamline our global operations at our company headquarters in San Francisco."
Ha continued, "By combining what we've learned from our customer data with the technology available to us in our labs, we're able to create high quality, effective and affordable products that our customers are looking for. Our investment in our own facilities, combined with our startup ethos, has allowed us to quickly evolve to meet market demand for innovative and effective beauty worldwide."
Ha concluded, "From the beginning, mobile has been a cornerstone of our online-to-offline omni-channel strategy. Our young customer base gravitates to content-driven brand experiences over basic e-commerce platforms translated to mobile. We plan to bring the same mobile content strategies that have been so successful in Asia to audiences in the US."
"What Memebox is doing with mobile and video is unprecedented in the beauty landscape," said Eric J. Kim, managing partner at Goodwater Capital and Memebox board member. "Memebox has the heart of a high-end brand, the brain of a deep data company, and the muscle memory of a social network. At its core, Memebox is dedicated to delighting this generation of customers who care deeply about beauty and skincare. We are proud to be part of bringing this traditional industry into the 21st century."