Rocket Internet is sometimes known for being reticent on how its vast e-commerce portfolio is progressing, but that appears to be slowly changing. Today the company put out its first numbers for Glossybox, its beauty box effort that looks a lot like Birchbox.
Glossybox shipped 2 million boxes to customers in its first 1.5 years of operations. And it has, to date, raised €55 million ($72.3 million) in financing, from Rocket Internet regulars Holtzbrinck Ventures Investment AB Kinnevik, and of course Rocket itself, which it plans to use to expand its service to more countries beyond the 16 markets where it is live today.
The numbers show that while Rocket has of late appeared to be putting a lot of effort into its fashion and e-commerce marketplace efforts (punctuated by huge funding rounds for companies like Zalora and Zalando, and strategic investment/investors like PPR for LaModa and Dafiti), it is also continuing to ramp up other parts of its portfolio. It follows on from news last week that HelloFresh, the Samwers’ take on Fresh Dish, picked up a $10 million investment.
As with other Rocket efforts, the unique position that Glossybox has is that it targets markets that similar companies have yet to enter. Birchbox ships to the U.S., UK, France and Spain, while Glossybox is now live in 16 countries: Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the U.S.
Beauty Trend Holding, Glossybox’s operating company, says that it has 200,000 customers across those markets.
Full release below.
GLOSSYBOX ships the two-millionth beauty surprise
Total financing over 55 million euro / Dynamic growth planned for 2013
Berlin, 17.12.2012: In just under a year and a half, GLOSSYBOX has become the global leader in the beauty box market—the 2,000,000th GLOSSYBOX has now been sent. The product concept is based on the regular delivery of a luxurious beauty surprise, sent right to the homes of customers and always packed in an elegant box. For 2013, GLOSSYBOX is anticipating further dynamic growth that will be financed by notable investors.
Founder and global CEO Charles von Abercron: “A lot has happened since the founding of GLOSSYBOX a year and a half ago: The company and the range of products have grown rapidly, we consist of over 300 employees, and we are present in 16 countries. GLOSSYBOX is supplementing the beauty collections of more than 200,000 customers around the world every month. The delivery of the two-millionth GLOSSYBOX is a wonderful milestone to top off an already very successful year. We are also looking forward to a period of further dynamic growth in 2013. It can already be said that GLOSSYBOX has created a new standard, revolutionizing the ways in which people discover new beauty products, and beauty brands reach early adopting target groups.”
End-users and the beauty industry profit equally from the global GLOSSYBOX network: GLOSSYBOX subscribers receive again and again the newest beauty trends delivered to their homes, complemented by a editorial magazine with information, trends, and news relevant to the respective box theme. The company provides the beauty industry with an ideal marketing platform for increasing sales and reaching the attractive target group known as “early adopters.”
In March 2011, Beauty Trend Holding started with GLOSSYBOX Beauty, a monthly beauty box for women. After just a year, the extremely successful product served as an attractive box model for the target groups men, teenagers, and mothers. Product preselection tailors each box to individual subscribers and the contents offer a surprise every time. The monthly GLOSSYBOX Beauty boxes contain at least 5 deluxe versions of decorative and care cosmetics. Each box includes a mixture of high-end, niche, and trend brands.
GLOSSYBOX is well positioned for further growth: Beauty Trend Holding GmbH is currently receiving more than 55 million euro in financing. Investors include Rocket Internet, Holtzbrinck Ventures, and Investment AB Kinnevik.