Beauty Pie to "turn beauty upside down" with £72m series B funding round

Beauty Pie has completed a Series B financing round of £72m as it seeks to turn the luxury beauty industry on its head with a push into new markets and experimental pop up shops.

The move, which brings Beauty Pie’s total funding to date to £126m, was co-led by Index Ventures and US-based global private equity and venture capital firm Insight Partners - along with existing investors Balderton Capital and General Catalyst and Latitude VC.

The new funding round would allow Beauty Pie to “turn the high-markup beauty industry upside down, with more warehouses, pop-up shops and a new membership model for devotees: Beauty Pie Plus.

Founded in 2016 by entrepreneur and beauty expert Marcia Kilgore (who also founded the FitFlop and Soap & Glory brands) Beauty Pie gives members insider access to products direct from the world's best third-party suppliers in premium skincare, makeup, haircare and bodycare.

Offering luxury products at “unbeatable direct-from-the-warehouse prices,” Beauty Pie experienced “exponential growth” in the past year, with members having doubled in FY2021, it said.

Commenting on the funding round and the brand’s ambitions, Kilgore said: "We are about empowerment, self-worth, and encouraging customers to demand more out of life, even if that means starting with their makeup or their moisturiser. We want millions of customers to have access to our 'no-middlemen, no-ridiculous retailer markup' pricing."

Index Ventures Partner Danny Rimer added: "Beauty Pie delivers huge value to its customers demonstrated by exceptional member loyalty over many years.  It's a model that marries true industry disruption with customer obsession - a winning combination."

Insight Partners Principal Rebecca Liu said: "Marcia has spent decades building businesses that genuinely treat customers the way she would want to be treated, and Beauty Pie is the epitome of that ethos.”