Crown Affair Raises Series C Led By Stride Consumer Partners To Fuel Next Phase Of Sephora Growth

Crown Affair, the brand that made air drying aspirational, has closed a series C funding round led by Stride Consumer Partners as it looks to evolve from cult favorite to scaled prestige haircare player.

As first reported by Women’s Wear Daily, the round marks Stride’s entrance into prestige haircare. Financial terms weren’t disclosed, but the firm typically invests between $15 million and $100 million in brands generating roughly $10 million to $150 million in revenue. Stride’s portfolio also includes beauty brands Odele, Skinfix and Patrick Ta. Crown Affair previously raised a $1.7 million seed round in 2020, followed by a $5 million series A in 2022 and a $9 million series B in 2024, both led by True Beauty Ventures.

Founded in 2020 by Dianna Cohen, whose résumé includes stints at Away, Into The Gloss and her own consultancy, Levitate, Crown Affair has garnered a following for its elevated but simplified approach to haircare, with hero products like The Dry Shampoo, The Oil, The Leave-In Conditioner and The Towel. The brand originated after Cohen shared a Google Doc of the products she used and realized many women were relying on complicated, time-intensive routines she believed could be simplified.

“Crown Affair was disrupting an industry that was rooted in salon. It’s a lot of professionals telling you how to do your hair,” says CEO Elaine Choi. “I think it was so different than what you’re seeing in skincare and makeup where there was this democratization that happened where people could discover their own skincare or makeup routines, and there was a sense of play.”

In 2022, Crown Affair landed in nearly 60 Sephora stores after the pandemic intensified consumer attention on haircare routines and the “skinification” of haircare took root. By 2024, Crown Affair was reportedly generating about $20 million in revenue, with projections calling for revenue to rise to $30 million the following year. Industry sources estimate the brand could reach at least $40 million to $50 million in topline sales this year.

Crown Affair’s sales were split roughly evenly between direct-to-consumer and retail last year, according to Choi, although the mix is expected to shift further toward retail as the brand heightens its retail presence. This year, Crown Affair rolled out endcap placements to Sephora stores nationwide.

“As we think about the next chapter for Crown Affair post-investment, the team and we are completely aligned that the brand story is now extremely clear and differentiated. The opportunity ahead is to broaden the reach of that message and introduce more consumers to the brand,” says Nicole Fourgoux, operating partner at Stride. “Brand awareness and consumer discovery are therefore a major focus for this next phase of growth, and we are incredibly excited to help more people discover what makes Crown Affair so special.”

“Haircare is one of the most exciting categories in beauty right now.”

When Crown Affair was weighing whether to kick off fundraising last year, Choi worried about it being a distraction and worked hard to keep the interruption to a minimum by carefully culling the list of possible partners. Crown Affair narrowed its focus to investors with experience in the brand’s category and distribution channels, along with a track record of guiding brands to exits. Ultimately, Crown Affair was selecting from six possibilities.

The choice of Stride boiled down to Crown Affair’s relationship with the firm, which dates back to 2020. “I wanted someone who deeply understood the brand so we weren’t spending energy on onboarding because I really wanted to stay focused on what we’re building,” says Choi. She adds, “It’s not a traditional growth round in that we didn’t take on a ton of primary capital. Really this round was primarily a secondary deal and really it’s about finding the right strategic partner.”

A key imperative for Crown Affair going forward is improving productivity inside Sephora. Choi details that its strategy for doing so is three-pronged: leaning into its hero products, boosting basket size and drawing new customers through newness—she mentions The Smoothing Air Dry drawing thicker- and curlier-haired consumers to a brand historically associated with finer, thinner hair types—and increasing its audience beyond its concentration in major coastal cities. Rather than pursuing a rapid launch cadence, Crown Affair usually introduces only about two hero products annually, prioritizing fewer, more meaningful product bets.

Haircare has seen a string of deals lately, including Henkel’s acquisitions of Not Your Mother’s and Olaplex and L’Oréal’s purchase of Color Wow. The deals are coming as haircare continues to post strong growth. According to Circana, haircare last year grew 4% in mass and 8% in prestige, where it registered the steepest gain of any beauty category.

“Haircare is one of the most exciting categories in beauty right now. In many ways, I believe haircare is following the evolution of skincare, but perhaps three to four years behind,” says Fourgoux. “Consumers are becoming increasingly sophisticated through access to education and information at their fingertips, and they are seeking a more holistic and elevated self-care experience from their haircare routines. That shift is driving the acceleration of the skinification of haircare, which has become one of the defining consumer movements in the category.”

Jaclyn Johnson, who participated in Crown Affair’s seed round and is the founder of Cherub and Create & Cultivate, believes the biggest opportunity for Crown Affair is to become the “Aesop of haircare,” a brand consumers emotionally connect with beyond pure utility. However, she acknowledges there will be challenges ahead to realize that opportunity.

“Haircare is brutally competitive right now,” she says. “Everyone from celebrity brands to biotech-backed scalp brands to legacy salon brands is chasing the same premium consumer. And once you move from cult brand to scaled brand, maintaining coolness gets harder. That’s the tension every modern beauty brand faces: How do you scale without losing the thing that made people obsessed?”

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