Dive Brief:
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Harry's Inc. this week announced it has raised $155 million from a Series E funding round led by Bain Capital and Macquarie Capital. The brand is now valued at $1.7 billion, according to details emailed to Retail Dive.
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The company will use the capital mainly to add more brands to its portfolio, which currently consists of Harry's, women's razor and body care brand Flamingo, pet brand Cat Person and haircare brand Headquarters.
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The company will also use the funding to expand Harry's and Flamingo into new product categories, as well as move into new markets. Harry's last month launched across the EU, the company said.
Dive Insight:
The fresh funding comes just over a year after Schick owner Edgewell's nearly $1.4 billion deal to merge with Harry's collapsed in light of the Federal Trade Commissions' antitrust actions against the deal.
The FTC late last year also moved to block P&G's acquisition of women's shaving startup Billie for similar reasons. P&G and Billie in January called off the deal.
As direct-to-consumer brands grow, they begin to eye their next move. While Dollar Shave Club — what some consider the original disruptor in the razor category — was snapped up by Unilever for $1 billion in 2016, the recent actions from the FTC have begun to complicate that particular exit strategy. Other brands have pursued alternative routes, including initial public offerings or going public by way of special purpose acquisition companies or SPACs.
But for Harry's, it appears to have now shifted its sights to building out its portfolio of CPG brands and scaling its business.
The company in 2018 launched its women's body care brand Flamingo, and more recently launched into pet care in March 2020 with its Cat Person brand and into haircare in January it launched with its brand Headquarters.
Harry's plans to focus on acquisitions, and use the company's design, marketing, consumer insights and DTC capabilities to build out its portfolio of brands.
