Goodwill Brands And Branded IP Acquire Natural Skincare And Body Care Brand Plant Apothecary

Goodwill Brands and Branded IP have acquired Plant Apothecary from Rare Beauty Brands. As part of the transaction, Thirteen Lune co-founder Nyakio Grieco has invested in the natural skincare and body care brand.

Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. It represents the first of what could be several acquisitions by Goodwill Brands, a brand holding company and beauty concept accelerator formed by Tracy Holland, co-founder and former CEO of beauty brand incubator HatchBeauty Brands, now called Hatch Collective, in 2020. Founded 11 years ago in Brooklyn by Bjarke Ballisager and Holly McWhorter, a married couple with a background in journalism, architecture and music, Plant Apothecary set out to make clean beauty reasonably priced and aesthetically vibrant.

Earl Robinson, CEO of Goodwill Brands and founder of Branded IP, a licensing and brand holding company established last year to create and acquire skincare, haircare, beauty and fragrance brands, says, “We have a certain lens around making sure that we honor the legacies of diverse founders even if they’re not around. Neither Tracy nor I are the founders of Plant Apothecary, but I think we can honor their heritage really well.”

In a statement, Holland says, “I was excited by Plant Apothecary’s brand architecture, history and formulations, and Rare Beauty Brands has a demonstrated ability and best-in-class track record scaling unique beauty brands that become global hits and must-haves for discerning skin care consumers.”

Rare Beauty Brands acquired Plant Apothecary in 2019 from Ballisager and McWhorter. With the sale of Plant Apothecary, the brand holding company is concentrating on the remaining two brands in its portfolio: skincare mask line Patchology and nail product specialist Dr. Dana.

“We have a certain lens around making sure that we honor the legacies of diverse founders even if they’re not around.”

Chris Hobson, president and CEO of Rare Beauty Brands, says, “We believed in the promise of Plant Apothecary from the beginning. As stewards of the brand for the past several years, we are proud of the work we did to elevate the formulations, fragrances and overall brand aesthetic. We are thrilled Goodwill and Branded IP share this vision, and we’re excited to see where they take the brand next.”

Plant Apothecary has 13 products priced from $12 to $55 such as its bestsellers Aromatic Cleansing Bar, Night Garden Sleep Cream, Day Maker AM Moisturizer and Virgin Skin Serum. The body care products come in four scent varieties: cypress and eucalyptus Be Well, patchouli and rose geranium Get It On, citrus and frankincense Start Happy, and lavender and spearmint Calm Down. The brand is available at Neiman Marcus, Douglas, Revolve and Sephora UK.

Goodwill Brands and Branded IP is out to triple the number of retail doors carrying Plant Apothecary and enlarge its skincare assortment. By the end of this month, the brand will be available on Thirteen Lune’s website. It will also be sold in the inclusive retailer’s flagship store in Los Angeles. At a moment in which many beauty consumers are drawn to clean beauty and displaying price sensitivity, Plant Apothecary’s clean and accessible positioning may be attractive to retailers. The brand formerly had a broader retail footprint that reached mass-market retail players, notably Target.

Grieco says, “Plant and Robinson are the ideal archetype of brand and founder we invest in, distribute and scale at Thirteen Lune. Plant stands out as it blends old-world French fragrance-making and soap milling with contemporary clean and natural formulations.” Prior to entering the beauty industry, Robinson was in private equity and venture capital. He kicked off his career with financial jobs at JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley.

“What I’m really eager to do is build women-led or -owned and minority-led or -owned businesses.”

Along with her former business partner Ben Bennett, CEO and founder of beauty incubator The Center, Holland guided Hatch to reaching $700 million in cumulative wholesale revenue and placing products on the shelves at 45,000-plus retail doors. She stayed connected to Hatch until last year, when she stepped down from her position as executive chair of the company. Hatch is currently owned by private equity firm Lion Capital.

Previously excluded from beauty categories competitive to Hatch by an agreement with the company, Holland began Goodwill Brands by sourcing and distributing personal protective equipment (PPE) after the pandemic hit. That approach led to Be Serene, a skincare, body care and haircare brand Goodwill Brands developed to cater to hospital systems the likes of Kaiser Permanente, Owens & Minor and Cardinal Health. Goodwill Brands has inked a contract with Vizient, a healthcare performance improvement company, to supply healthcare providers. The company has six people on staff today.

This year, Goodwill Brands is planning two to three acquisitions, including Plant Apothecary. It has delved into seed funding—for instance, it participated in refillable body care brand Uni’s seed round—and advised emerging brands, but is primarily aiming to have controlling ownership in brands it takes over.

Goodwill Brands is looking predominantly at underperforming assets generating less than $30 million to $40 million in annual revenue and in fewer than 500 retail doors. Body care, clean fragrance and haircare, particularly as it relates to scalp care and skinification of haircare, are areas the company is zeroing in on for deals.

Goodwill Brands doesn’t intend to incubate brands internally. Although the founders of Plant Apothecary and Rare Beauty Brands are no longer involved in Plant Apothecary, the company is open to founders having an equity stake and role in their brands in the future. Holland says, “I’m interested in the purpose of the business. What I’m really eager to do is build women-led or -owned and minority-led or -owned businesses.”