Bubble Bets On Acne Cleanser For Back-To-School Launch As It Explores Strategic Options With Centerview

Bubble is breaking out in more ways than one.

Timed with the back-to-school season, the mass-market rocket ship is adding a fourth product to its acne franchise: the $17 cleanser All Clear. The launch rounds out the brand’s acne-fighting routine for its gen Z and alpha customers, who cite acne as their No. 1 skin concern, with 72% dealing with it. In July 2022, Bubble started in the acne segment with $17 Super Clear Acne Treating Serum and expanded in it with the $12 Knock Out Acne Spot Treatment in February 2023 and $17 Moon Walk Gentle Exfoliating Serum in January 2024.

As it enlarges its assortment, Bubble is evaluating its financial options and has hired the boutique investment firm Centerview to test the market, according to reporting by Axios confirmed by Business of Fashion and Beauty Independent. The brand is backed by the venture capital firms Bullish, Willow Growth Partners, FAB Ventures, Point King Capital, Joyance Partners, Echo Capital and AF Ventures. In January, industry sources told Women’s Wear Daily that it was estimated to reach around $170 million in sales last year.

Asked about the possibility of selling Bubble, the CEO and founder Shai Eisenman, the brand’s majority owner, says, “We are very lucky to be profitable and to be in a great place from a financial perspective. We are healthy and stable and growing independently. I think it’s more about, how do we ensure that we give the brand what it deserves? Eventually, the goal is to be everywhere you see the legacy players that we are competing against.”

In acne, those legacy players on big-box shelves include CeraVe, PanOxyl and Neutrogena. Eisenman distinguishes Bubble’s approach as holistic and gentle, pushing against the reputation acne products have as focused on a single ingredient and harsh. The brand’s 200,000 member-plus community tells it that 54% of them have never used a salicylic acid cleanser, and among those who have, the top complaints are that they’re either ineffective (37%) or too drying (27%).

All Clear has been in the works for nearly two years, and Bubble sought input on its formula from its medical advisory board of 10 dermatologists. In-house, the brand has two chemists, three product developers, a VP of product and a clinician helping to bring its product concepts to life. Eisenman points to demand from Bubble’s community and ambassadors as originally instigating the concept for All Clear. The brand has over 90,000 ambassadors providing feedback, advocating for it on social media and trying new products.

Although salicylic acid is the powerhouse of All Clear—it’s in the over-the-counter drug product at a 2% concentration—the formula also features sebum regulator niacinamide, humectant sodium PCA, anti-inflammatory green tea and aquaxyl, a hydrator yielded from a patented sugar process by ingredient supplier Seppic. In a clinical study of 32 participants using the cleanser twice daily, 88% to 91% noticed improvements in blemishes, redness and the size of breakouts.

Eisenman says, “We are about delivering a well-founded formulation that supports the skin barrier and hydrates the skin and is kind to the skin and is not going to just treat the acne, but treats the skin as a whole. Obviously, acne patches are one of the largest categories and have been growing in the last few years, but I think that consumers are looking for performance and are looking to drive results. I think that we’re going to continuously see consumers looking for products that are more recommended by the FDA and dermatologists versus products that are trendy.”

“We are about delivering a well-founded formulation that supports the skin barrier and hydrates the skin.”

Bubble purposely steered clear of benzoyl peroxide in All Clear. The ingredient has been under fire for degradation that produces carcinogenic chemical compound benzene. However, in tests by the United States Food and Drug Administration of 95 acne products with benzoyl peroxide, more than 90% had undetectable or extremely low levels of benzene.

Eisenman explains, “We don’t talk about good and bad because we’re not in the business of fear mongering. We talk about gray. If it’s gray, it’s out in our formulations, and because of that, we opted to formulate a salicylic acid cleanser versus a benzoyl peroxide cleanser.”

What’s clear is that Bubble’s customers are snapping up and sticking with its acne products. Following Knock Out’s landing at Ulta Beauty, the product’s sales were 118% above forecast, and the brand released an Acne Kit in response. In June this year, it launched $16 milky toner Cosmic Silk exclusively at Ulta. Eisenman told WWD that a bottle of Cosmic Milk sells every minute at Ulta.

Bubble notes that Super Clear has a retention rate of 46% on Amazon compared to industry benchmarks of 20% to 25%. In research it conducted with the firm NielsenIQ, Eisenman discloses the brand achieves 100% retention rates with customers 24 years old and above. Next year, Bubble plans to introduce a product aimed at adult customers with hormonal acne.

Building on Knock Out’s Ulta success, the brand is driving its back-to-school marketing toward the beauty specialty retailer. It has tapped six college student content creators and four longer term influencer partners to promote All Clear by showing the results of the product over time. Along with those partnerships, it’s executing earned seeding with creators dealing with acne documenting the effects of All Clear.

Bubble’s store count has increased 26% since the beginning of this year. In the U.S., it’s in roughly 14,000 retail doors. Bubble made its retail debut at Walmart in 2021 shortly after its 2020 launch. Ulta and CVS came in 2022. In 2024, it headed across the pond to Boots. This year, it’s arrived at Target, Shoppers Drug Mart, Asos and Sephora in the Middle East. This week, Bubble is rolling out its first permanent endcap in select Ulta locations.

With young Americans facing rising costs, student debt and a lean labor market, Eisenman has detected considerable price sensitivity. Bubble’s acne products are squarely in the price range of its competition at Target and Walmart, and the brand hasn’t adjusted its prices despite the pressures to do so from higher tariffs.

Eisenman says, “We deliver products that should cost in terms of their cost of goods for a cleanser around $40 for moisturizers and serums around $80 to $90, $100, but we price them very affordably because one of the biggest missions of the brand is delivering premium products at an affordable price, which comes with a challenge for margin.”