Black women are the leading consumer group in beauty consumption. Now one founder is making sure they have a seat at the table.
thirteen lune, the first-of-its-kind truly inclusive beauty e-commerce platform, is announcing a $3 million funding round led by Fearless Fund, a venture capital firm by women of color, for women of color. The transaction underscores strong investor confidence in thirteen lune’s growth, profitability and market position and consumer interest in inclusive beauty. The investment will accelerate production of thirteen lune’s private label line, improvements to its supply chain, and build a more robust executive-level team.
thirteen lune launched in 2020 with 13 brands sold on its DTC platform. Today thirteen lune proudly carries 100 brands– 90% are founded by Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) and 10% are ally brands. thirteen lune is growing exponentially this year, with 100% revenue growth in the past six months from online sales alone.
Thirteen lune is scaling its brick-and-mortar footprint through a historic partnership with JCPenney as the beauty shop-in-shop experience in 600 stores nationwide by 2023, with 10 already open. This retail expansion will supercharge growth for thirteen lune and increase consumer awareness.
“As an entrepreneur for 20 years, it was very exciting to see how much the venture landscape has transformed from when I first started fundraising back in the early 2000s. Representation matters and seeing an increase of diverse fund managers in the market was extremely encouraging during our process,” says Nyakio Grieco, Co-founder of thirteen lune. “Even though we have seen incredible progress, only 1.2% of venture capital is invested in Black women-founded businesses today, so there is still much work to be done. I am proud to be part of the change and grateful to be building this business with Fearless Fund.”
To date, only 93 Black women have raised more than $1 million in venture capital funding. This Fearless Fund led investment results in $4.5 million total capital raised for thirteen lune, and signals a paradigm shift for Black women founders. Fearless Fund was established to address the gap that exists in venture capital funding for women of color led businesses and to finally push the needle on the abysmal statistics that drive the current narrative today.
“Of our many successes in 2021, I am most excited about demonstrating to the industry you can be on the right side of the inclusive conversation AND build a highly scalable and profitable business at the same time,” says Patrick Herning, Co-founder of thirteen lune.
“We are delighted to welcome thirteen lune into the Fearless Fund family”, says Arian Simone, General Partner and Co-Founder of. “Nyakio has created a groundbreaking space to foster inclusivity in the beauty and wellness industries and we are excited to support the brand as they continue to scale over the next few years.”