Dive Brief:

• DTC cleaning brand Blueland on Wednesday announced it has raised $20 million in funding, led by ​​Prelude Growth Partners, a female-founded growth equity firm.
• The fresh funding will be used to accelerate the brand's DTC and retail growth, expand its presence in the cleaning category and launch into new sectors including personal care, according to a company press release.
• The brand has raised $35 million to date from big names like Rent the Runway's Jennifer Fleiss, Thrive Market's Nick Green, Sweetgreen's Nicolas Jammet and Justin Timberlake.

Dive Insight:

The DTC cleaning brand is making good on its promise to expand into new product categories this year.

Last June — as Blueland announced plans to expand into Canada — the brand said it would release new product innovations and in 2022 launch into new categories. Blueland said plans for new launches in the cleaning and personal care categories are already in place and the company expects to debut products later this year. 

The $20 million investment not only fuels product expansion, but also helps the brand grow its retail presence. Blueland has already formed partnerships with brands and retailers like Reformation and The Container Store, which has helped extend its reach both online and offline. For many digitally native brands, the draw to physical retail seems unavoidable: As the cost of customer acquisition and retention grow, many DTC brands have turned to brick-and-mortar stores to serve as an additional marketing channel.

For Blueland, which launched in 2019 with the goal of eliminating single-use plastics (those often used in household cleaning products), sustainability has remained key to the brand. As more consumers — particularly those in younger generations — prioritize brands that make commitments around environmental impacts and social justice, the DTC cleaning brand has steadily grown its audience. Blueland, which says it has diverted more than 1 billion plastic water bottles from landfills and oceans, has expanded its customer base to more than 1 million.

"Blueland's high-performance products combined with its mission to eliminate single-use plastic have resulted in incredible consumer love in the cleaning category. The brand is one of the fastest growing in its space, with exceptional demand and extremely strong loyalty," Alicia Sontag, co-founder and managing partner at Prelude Growth Partners, said in a statement.