It's interesting to look at where else Schapera has opted to work post BECCA. He has own his London Labs 'Skincare for Hair" business that we know about, and I'm curious to see how this might fit somehow with OBJ given hair care was identified as one of his five business plans.
London Labs had a product launch a few days ago and he had this exchange on linkedin, where he seems quite active, which gives a little insight into his thinking. Rolando Stefanos Zabban Managing Director/ COO at SANA JARDIN LIMITED
Well done Stephen. I expect luxury hair and scalp care to grow massively in the next few years. It’s turn has come.
Steven Schapera Founder and Chairman at BECCA Holdings
Absolutely, Rolando. It makes perfect sense: Healthy hair can only grow in a healthy scalp. For too long we have neglected the scalp because it his hidden. Anti-ageing for the scalp must become as commonplace as anti-ageing for the face.
He's also a director - from January -- of Invincible Brands, which seems to be a very dynamic, savvy business that knows how to use social media to target consumers and shift products -- all attributes that OBJ can benefit from if it ends up going it alone.
It just demonstrates to me that he's not only very well-connected but a driven and successful operator and it's a coup that OBJ have got him. The only worry is that he might not be focusing all his time on OBJ, given his other commitments. Far as I can see he's involved with five companies - OBJ, Invincible, Hoist Strategic LLC, London Labs, Wild Nutrition and BECCA.
Came across this article about Invincible, with a Schapera mention, after a private equity fund took stake a few months ago (another thing OBJ needs).
apital D, a newly-formed pan-European private equity manager investing in mid-market companies which disrupt legacy business models, has acquired a majority stake in Invincible Brands.
Founded in November 2015, Invincible Brands has accomplished exceptional growth. The company sells its products from Germany into continental European markets, employs 80 staff and serves a customer base of 500,000 millennials.
Invincible Brands is a pioneer in social media influencer-led marketing to millennials who are now the largest addressable consumer group in the world. It creates natural health, beauty and fitness products from the ground up, using proprietary product development methods and a marketing platform that reaches more than 100 million women and men across the world on social media every month.
Invincible Brands’ influencer marketing campaigns are mainly delivered through social media such as Snapchat. This approach, both analytical and tailored to select influencers, combined with the company’s market intelligence, has yielded a consistently high return on marketing spend. By targeting customers’ preferences on social media and aligning marketing programmes with short new product development cycles, Invincible Brands has achieved a 100 per cent success rate on more than 40 product launches to date.
Bjoern Keune, co-founder and CEO of Invincible Brands, says: “We are delighted to have secured this significant investment from capital D. The team has deep sector knowledge in ecommerce, SEO, retail and food distribution and we look forward to working with them to build our position in our existing markets and extend our reach globally.”
Stephan Lobmeyr, co-founder of capital D, said: “Our focus is on business models with direct evidence of commercial traction and transformative impact in their markets. The Invincible Brands’ management team has achieved spectacular, tangible results in a short time, capitalising on the tribal buying tendencies of millennials. We look forward to supporting their next phase of growth.”
Jean-Marc Jabre, co-founder of capital D who jointly led this transaction, adds: “The timing for this investment is apposite. This January sees the emergence of the first native 21st century adults and the current financial reporting season shines an unforgiving light on many legacy consumer business models. Effective social marketing is now a fundamental part of the arsenal of any consumer-focused brand as the impact of traditional advertising on millennials wanes.”
Steven Schapera, co-founder of BECCA Cosmetics, which was acquired by Estée Lauder in 2016, brings a wealth of experience and is excited to join the board as director.
Advisors on the deal include Re_Set (digital due diligence), Acris (buy-side M&A), Goodwin Procter (buy-side legal), KPMG (buy-side financial), CatCap (sell-side M&A) and Neef Legal (sell-side legal).
OBJ Price at posting:
2.8¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
(20min delay)