LYS Beauty Secures Eight Figure Series A Investment

LYS Beauty, the four-year-old clean makeup label founded by Tisha Thompson, has closed a Series A funding round valued at eight figures, the brand announced on Monday morning. Specific financial terms were not disclosed.

In an interview with The Business of Beauty, Thompson said the investment will power the next phase of the brand’s expansion: “To get more visibility, more awareness, more people connected to our mission at LYS,” she said, “which stands for ‘Love Your Self,’ by the way.” The funds are earmarked for out-of-home marketing efforts, staffing and inventory expansion in advance of its launch into 892 Sephora at Kohl’s locations on Apr. 8.

The round was led by US-based private equity firm Encore Consumer Capital, which previously made growth investments in cosmetics label Tarte (which the firm sold to Japanese conglomerate Kosé in 2014) and sunscreen brand Supergoop (which it exited when the brand was acquired by Blackstone Growth in 2021) in addition to a number of food companies and manufacturers. Encore co-founder Robert Brown and director Jamie Schwartz will join the brand’s board, with founder Thompson retaining majority ownership of the company.

A Black woman stands in front of a solid beige background, wearing a terracotta colored blouse, and holding up a rose gold, triangular compact that says "lys". Her hair is parted down the middle, pin straight and behind her shoulders, and she wears rose gold lipstick and eyeshadow with perfectly defined brows and wispy baby hairs. — Founder Tisha Thompson, a former beauty executive and makeup artist, said she's excited and encouraged by the investment. "Despite tough times," she said, "doors are not closed." (MARCUS EZELL)

It’s the first investment LYS Beauty has taken on. “I said to my team, if we’re gonna do this, we’re only talking to people that have had a strategic exit with a specialty retailer,” Thompson said.

In a press release, Schwartz said he believes the company has “every bit as much potential” as Tarte and Supergoop. “The white space is tremendous,” he said.

Thompson, a former makeup artist and beauty executive, founded LYS Beauty in 2021. It’s since become known for its distinctive triangular packaging and cult complexion products, and for being one of few Black-owned clean makeup brands, of which it’s the first to launch at Sephora. The line is now carried in all Sephora doors in the US, Canada and Australia, as well as at Credo Beauty. It’s also a top 20 brand on TikTok Shop, according to the release.

Part of the investment will go to shoring up the brand’s presence in Sephora, with Thompson planning to build a dedicated sales team for the LVMH-owned retailer as well as a sampling program.

“We hope to graduate off the Next Big Thing fixture,” Thompson said, “and have a larger footprint.”

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