Underlining Beauty Raises $6 Million Round
Underlining Beauty, the parent company of Nailboo, has raised a $6 million seed round that it plans to use to scale up the business.
The round was led by Peter Warnøe and Christian Tarp at Nordic Eye Venture Capital, a fund in Denmark. With the capital, Underlining intends to expand its direct-to-consumer business, create more product lines and launch in retail.
More from WWD
Right now Underlining operates three brands: TatBrow, Nailboo and Hide, a skin care line. The company is based in Miami, and was founded by Raz Romanescu. Amanda Johnson, the cofounder of Mented, joined Underlining as chief marketing officer in 2021.
“We want to become a global consumer distribution company with a portfolio of iconic brands,” said Romanescu in an interview. To do that, Romanescu said Underlining will expand the product offerings for existing brands, and launch a brand in the hair space in the third quarter.
“On the Nailboo front, we’re releasing an entire nail line for customers — press-on nails, gel polishes, hand and feet masks, cuticle oils, remover, etc.,” Romanescu said, noting that the line is launching with Sally Beauty. Tatbrow and Hide will also increase their product offerings in brow and skin, respectively, he said.
“Primarily the funds are used for product expansion, hiring some more key personnel who will help sustain the growth of the business and set our infrastructure for starting to move into retail and international expansion,” Romanescu said.
Industry sources said Underlining will do around $60 million in sales for 2022, and with major growth plans, could expand to around $500 million in sales for 2025.
Underlining’s three brands are sold on their own individual websites, he said, but Underlining plans to launch one website that sells all of its brands in the future. The business also plans to launch into several English-speaking international markets this year, Romanescu said, ticking off the U.K., Australia and Canada.
“We’re really good at building our own brands, launching them and building that customer demand and listening to our customers through data tell us what they want to see next,” Romanescu said. The business interacts with customers through Facebook groups and SMS messaging.
“We actually surveyed our existing customers and asked them which products they would like to see next, and that’s what we based our product development road map on,” Romanescu said.
FOR MORE FROM WWD.COM, SEE:
Inside Beauty’s Board Diversity
Chanel, Olaplex Back ‘Cosmetic Lab of the Future’
Pacifica Lands PE Investment, Hires Nathalie Kristo as CEO
Sign up for WWD's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
