With a run-rate of USD 15 million and 220 employees, the Company will invest in the development of its platform, “B4A Connect”

Sao Paulo, Brazil–(Newsfile Corp. – June 1, 2022) – Just 10 months after announcing a seed round of USD 2 million, B4A (Beauty for All), a Brazilian beauty-tech startup founded in 2017 with the purpose of democratizing the beauty market, announces the closing of a new Series A round of up to USD 6 million.

The round was led by DXA, a Brazilian Private Equity fund with more than 20 years in the market which already invested in Brazilian direct-to-consumer brands like ZeeDog and Green People. B4A’s prior investors like Sao Paulo-based VC fund AcNext – which led the previous round – as well as several angel investors, followed on as well.

“Being able to raise new funds under the current market conditions demonstrates the high level of confidence investors have in B4A. Our valuation increased four times between the two rounds and all our investors from the previous round participatedin this one,” states Jan Riehle, founder and CEO of B4A.

In 2021, B4A doubled its revenue with a run-rate of more than USD 12 million and 170 employees at the end of the year. In April of this year, already with a run-rate of USD 15 million and 220 employees the beauty-tech intends to invest in improving its core technology platform B4A Connect, a platform with the purpose of connecting beauty brands, consumers and digital influencers.

“We will use the investment to continue the fast expansion of our ecosystem, the streamlining of services between female and male categories, and to improve the functionality of our B4A Connect platform, which is the foundation of the ecosystem,” completes the executive.

For consumers, B4A started offering beauty subscription services (similar to Ipsy and Birchbox in the US) in 2017. Due to proprietary algorithms that customize the experience by only selecting products which match the consumer profile, the Company quickly developed into becoming the market leader in Latin America, today with more than 100,000 paying subscribers.

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B4A subsequently developed the subscription concept further adding a customized ecommerce for beauty products which offers “guaranteed best price” to beauty shoppers and completely customizes the shopping experience – only offering each shopper products that fit his/her profile. In 2021, B4A also started offering virtual subscriptions similar to Amazon Prime or Sam’s Club, allowing consumers who did not want to purchase a products-based beauty subscription access to the shopping experience.

“We realized that the current inflationary scenario in Brazil increased consumers’ price sensitivity, and consequently the search for best-price offers such as our Beauty clubs. Consumers are looking for more affordable, customized and entertaining ways to connect with the beauty category – and this is exactly what our beauty clubs offer,” says Paula Sampaio, VP of B4A.

For beauty brands, on the other hand, the B4A Connect platform developed into a turnkey solution for marketing, communication and market intelligence: B4A offers beauty brands access to experimentation with qualified consumer groups, production and placement of specialized content in social media, in addition to individualized market studies generating important insights and supporting brands with the planning of marketing and distribution campaigns.

Beauty brands also get access to distribution: integrating with the platform they can sell on B4A’s websites Glambox.com.br and Mensmarket.com.br, which are the beauty tech’s marketplaces for consumers.

In addition, the Company’s product, “Influencer Connect” provides brands with access to over 2,000 qualified micro-influencers in the beauty space ready to promote their brand as well as sell their products using a digitalized model for direct selling. The Company’s goal is to manage 5,000 influencers by the end of the year. The solution is already being used by more than 200 brands including Unilever, Procter & Gamble, Natura, Beiersdorf (NIVEA) and O Boticário.

B4A Connect also serves as a full-service solution to develop, communicate and distribute B4A’s three proprietary beauty brands (DNVBs – Digitally Native Vertical Brands): Glam Beauty, a female skincare line; Malmo, a men’s accessories brand; and Men’s, the largest cosmetics brand focused on products aimed at meeting the needs of Brazilian men.

For this year, the Company’s goal is to double its revenue and focus on improving the digital experience. “We want to be the best solution for a consumer with any needs relating to the beauty & cosmetics sector. The beauty e-commerce market is already very competitive, but we believe that we have advantages offering a much more gratifying shopping experience. Integrating gamification strategies, user-generated content creation and distribution, the use of machine learning to offer product matches, and our social-selling strategies with nano- and micro-influencers, we offer a mix that traditional retailers or eCommerce players have a hard time competing with,” explains Riehle.

B4A plans to start raising their Series B round later this year, with the aim of using its proceeds to actively consolidate a greater number of direct-to-consumer brands into B4A’s ecosystem.

“Our team has deep expertise in direct-to-consumer and our partnership with B4A came about because we believe they are capable of consolidating the DNVB beauty segment in Brazil. We are united to achieve the objective of raising a Series B round, which will be used for the acquisition of beauty brands that can be grown quickly by plugging them into B4A Connect,” says Oscar Decotelli, CEO of DXA Investimentos.

About B4A

B4A (Beauty For All) is a beauty tech startup whose mission is to democratize beauty. Founded in 2017, B4A’s platform “B4A Connect” connects consumers, influencers and brands, creating network effects and synergies amongst them, generating value for all participants in the ecosystem.

Media Contact:
Gabriel Romio
e: pr@b4a.com.br
phone : +55 11 979646585

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