Glossier Notches $80M Amid Digital Shift In Beauty Retail

Beauty brand Glossier landed $80 million in a Lone Pine Capital-led Series E funding round, which saw the participation of Thrive Capital, Sequoia Capital, IVP, Index Ventures, and Forerunner Ventures, according to a Wednesday (July 7) announcement.

Glossier’s nearly 40 products retail in the range of $12 to $60 and encompass fragrance, body, makeup and skincare. The firm has over 5 million clients throughout the world and has “become a household name across generations, especially with Gen Z and Millennials,” according to the company.

To that end, the company, which was established in 2014, says that 40 percent of women between the ages of 18 and 34 in the United States have heard of the brand.

And, even despite closing every retail location early in the pandemic, Glossier says it kept expanding last year because of its “deep investments in online discovery and shopping.”

“When Glossier launched as a digitally native beauty company, we were an anomaly in our industry, which has been slow to innovate beyond brick and mortar,” Glossier Founder and CEO Emily Weiss said in the announcement. “Now, nearly seven years into Glossier’s journey, our strategy and the expectations of beauty consumers everywhere are aligned: beauty discovery increasingly begins online as people look for inspiration from friends and strangers alike, and customers want to move fluidly between immersive and personalized e-commerce and retail experiences.”

In separate news, Booksy announced in January that it had landed $70 million in a Series C funding round to grow its beauty booking app across North America. The company also planned to harness the infusion to grow into new verticals and buy businesses that can complement its mission.

That round was headed up by Cat Rock Capital and also included investors Manta Ray Ventures, Zach Coelius, Kai Hansen, Enern, VNV Global, Piton Capital and OpenOcean.

By way of Booksy, clients can reserve and pay for appointments with local hair and nail salons in addition to barbershops.