EXCLUSIVE: Caliray Gains Investment From True Beauty Ventures
Sustainable beauty brand Caliray has raised a Series A round.
The California-based brand launched in 2021 by Urban Decay founder Wende Zomnir has received new financing led by True Beauty Ventures, the early stage beauty and wellness focused investment fund run by Rich Gersten and Cristina Nuñez.
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Caliray’s assortment consists of eight products, including Come Hell or High Water Volumizing Tubing Mascara, SO Blown Blurring Collagen Peptide Primer and their first wellness beauty-boosting supplement, Get Lit, created in partnership with Thorne HealthTech, and a clean-formulation entrance into the setting spray category where Zomnir made a name for herself nearly two decades ago.
Investors in Caliray also include Hezy Shaked, founder and chairman of Tilly’s, who has been involved since the beginning.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but industry sources estimate that the brand will generate between $20 million and $25 million in retail sales by 2024.
“We are excited to partner with Rich Gersten and Cristina Nuñez of True Beauty Ventures,” said Zomnir, who met her business partner, Jenna Dover, while playing volleyball on the beach. “By working alongside these experts, they will further help us accelerate our growth, scale, and deepen our investment into our existing partnership with Sephora.”
Caliray launched direct-to-consumer in 2021 and joined forces with Sephora as its exclusive retail partner in January 2022 as part of its Planet Positive program.
The funding comes on the heels of category expansion for Caliray and a year of growth for the brand, which is anticipating more than a doubling in sales this year, according to sources.
With the new funding, the brand, which is focused on creating products with clean formulas, recycled packaging and innovation in sustainability, will continue to invest heavily in Sephora in the U.S. and Canada. While makeup is at the forefront, Zomnir thinks of Caliray as a lifestyle brand, and there will be a few more launches in the wellness category.
“We are thrilled to increase our investment in Caliray and believe in Wende as a visionary, second time beauty founder who previously built and successfully grew Urban Decay into an iconic brand,” said Nuñez. Urban Decay was acquired by L’Oréal over a decade ago.
Gersten added: “I have known Wende for over 12 years, having first met her when she was at Urban Decay. She is an industry icon, and we are so excited to have the opportunity to partner together on Caliray as she looks to build another enduring beauty brand.”
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