Beauty Investors and VC Firms

Beauty Investor Fundraising Guide: How to Find the Right Backers for Your Brand

Building a beauty brand is no small feat. From creating innovative products to carving out your niche, founders face challenges at every turn. The biggest challenge, however, might just be securing funding. That's where beauty investors come in. But how do you identify the right backers who’ll help bring your vision to life?

This guide will walk you through everything you need to know about the beauty venture capital landscape, the trends shaping investments, and how to successfully pitch your brand for funding.

A Look Into the Beauty Venture Capital Landscape

Beauty is an industry full of potential but also tricky to fund. It’s a $430 billion global market, but not every investor knows how to differentiate between fleeting hot trends and scalable innovation.

This is where consumer-focused VCs dominate, alongside corporate arms of giants like Estée Lauder and L'Oréal. Diversity-focused funds and influencer-backed syndicates are also shaking up the game, making beauty fundraising both exciting and daunting.

What are VCs really looking for in beauty startups? It’s no longer just about pretty packaging. Investors want:

• Sticky communities that rally behind brands.
• Multi-channel sales strategies, because DTC alone doesn’t cut it anymore.
• Repeat purchasing behavior, proving that customers love your product and keep coming back.

From skincare to e-commerce tools, the beauty investor landscape has broadened. The best investors often come from unexpected places, such as femtech or biotech, bringing their unique expertise to the table.

What’s Trending in Beauty Startup Investments?

Wondering what’s capturing the attention of beauty investors right now? Here are the sectors making waves this year:

Science-backed Skincare & “Derm-Beauty”

Everyone wants results, and science-backed brands are sweeping the industry. Think clinical claims, ingredient patents (IP), and dermatologist-approved formulations.

Sustainable Packaging & Circular Beauty

From refillables to zero-waste formats, sustainable packaging is no longer optional. Supply chain innovation is also stepping into the spotlight, with VCs betting on brands that lead the charge.

Beauty x Tech Platforms

AI-powered try-on tools, virtual skin diagnostics, personalized regimens, and community platforms are redefining how consumers engage with beauty. Beauty-tech hybrids are hot.

Niche Vertical Brands with Loyal Communities

The rise of subculture-first, identity-driven brands (e.g., queer-owned, texture-specific haircare) shows that you don’t need to appeal to “everyone” to win big.

Biotech-Powered Cosmetics

Products featuring lab-grown collagen, microbiome-friendly actives, and cell-derived ingredients are changing the game. Beauty and biotech are merging like never before.

The Top 10 Beauty VC Firms

Here’s a list of standout VC firms dominating the beauty space in 2024:

1. Imaginary Ventures: Focused on digital-first consumer brands, they’ve backed powerhouses like Glossier and Nécessaire.
2. Forerunner Ventures: Champions of community-led commerce, with investments in Curology and Function of Beauty.
3. BBG Ventures: Specialized in supporting early-stage beauty, wellness, and women-led consumer brands.
4. L Catterton: A major player in beauty, fashion, and personal care investments, scaling household names.
5. Unilever Ventures: This corporate VC combines direct beauty exposure with significant CPG clout.
6. Female Founders Fund: Focused on early-stage beauty and wellness ventures led by diverse and underrepresented founders.
7. Obvious Ventures: Pioneers in sustainable beauty, biotech innovation, and clean formulations.
8. Prelude Growth Partners: Known for scaling consumer brands effectively with proven operational playbooks.
9. Global Founders Capital: A generalist fund increasingly active in beauty-tech hybrids and DTC success stories.
10. Marcy Venture Partners: Co-founded by Jay-Z, this fund invests in culturally relevant consumer brands and has backed beauty companies like Therabody and SIMIHAZE Beauty.

How to Find Beauty Investors for Your Startup

It’s tempting to cast a wide net, but you’ll save time (and heartache) by being selective. Here’s how to find the right investors for your beauty startup:

• Target Relevant Funds - Don’t pitch to generic consumer VCs. Look for firms with proven wins in beauty, cosmetics, or wellness.
• Examine Their Portfolio - Carefully review past skincare, cosmetics, or related investments. Do they have experience with supply chains, formulation IP, or retailer relationships?
• Use Tools Like OpenVC - Platforms like OpenVC help you filter investors by stage, sector, check size, geography, and more. That’s how you zero in on the most aligned backers.

How to Pitch Beauty Investors

Your pitch deck is the key to unlocking funding. Nail it with these 5 must-have slides:

1. Brand Story Slide: Why does your brand exist? What’s your emotional hook? Make your story unforgettable.
2. Product Slide: Showcase your hero SKU(s), standout formulation details, and what makes your product unique (think efficacy, sourcing, IP, and packaging).
3. Traction Slide: Go beyond top-line revenue. Include reorder rates, conversion data from trials/samples, and sales velocity.
4. Distribution Slide: Present a clear retail strategy. Omni-channel execution wins over DTC-only approaches.
5. Margins & Unit Economics Slide: Investors love beauty because of the margins. Show your CAC, AOV, repeat rate, and profitability forecast.

If you need help assembling your entire pitch deck, we also have a complete guide to building your startup’s pitch deck!

Founder Insights: What Actually Closes Beauty Rounds?

Here’s what we’ve heard from founders who succeeded:

Packaging ≠ Product Moat

Cool fonts and pastel palettes might get you into the room—but they won’t get you a term sheet. Beauty investors see “aesthetic” every day. What they really want is defensibility: a patented ingredient, a clinical claim, a supply chain moat, even a novel delivery format. If you don’t have something that makes your product hard to copy, they’ll move on fast.

Community \= Data Point

“10k followers” doesn’t mean much unless you can show conversion. But if you’ve got receipts—$80k in preorders, 40% repeat customers, customers begging for restocks—that’s a different story. One founder we spoke to closed their round just by showing that a single influencer mention tripled sales overnight. Momentum sells.

Channel Fit is Critical

Founders often overestimate how much they can brute-force a product into any channel. Truth is, VCs are looking for signal: “Has this product already found traction in a channel that makes sense?” That might mean Sephora picking you up for a pilot. Or a DTC funnel with solid CAC:LTV. No one wants to fund a rebrand after launch—you need to prove your wedge works.

Related Sectors Worth Exploring

Beauty overlaps with several sectors, so consider these related investor databases on OpenVC:

• Consumer Packaged Goods Investors
• Healthtech Investors
• Biotech Investors
• Luxury Investors

Raise Smarter with OpenVC

The beauty industry might be crowded, but the right pitch and backers can launch your brand to the next level. With OpenVC, you can filter for aligned investors, plan your outreach smarter, and pitch directly to real VCs, no warm intros needed (but we also help with those too!).

Want to fast-track your fundraising? Start your raise →