Ipsy Acquires Beauty Subscription Competitor Boxycharm

The combined business is expected to have $1 billion in sales.

From: WWD
By: Allison Collins 

Ipsy is acquiring Boxycharm.
The companies will live under new parent company Beauty for All Industries, which expects more than $1 billion in sales for 2020.

Marcelo Camberos, cofounder and chief executive officer of Ipsy, said the deal allows Ipsy to strengthen its “position in the personalized beauty ecosystem.”

Ipsy was cofounded by Michelle Phan, one of the first major content creators on YouTube. The business started with Glam Bags, which contain full-sized beauty products, and gradually branched into other areas, like e-commerce and its own brands. The company has been backed by private equity firm TPG since 2015, and reached $500 million in sales in 2019.

“Both brands share a commitment to celebrating diversity and enabling inclusion through beauty, which our world needs more than ever today,” said Camberos in a statement. “Joe [Martin, Boxycharm’s founder] has built an amazing business and an avid community of beauty enthusiasts. BoxyCharm has always pushed us to be better and now that we’re under one roof, we’re looking forward to growing and innovating together.”

BoxyCharm has picked up steam in recent years, and has used influencers to help build buzz around new beauty products.  Martin will continue to lead Boxycharm, and will also join the BFAI board as a cofounder. Jennifer Goldfarb, Ipsy cofounder, will also become BFAI chairwoman and cofounder.

Ipsy and Boxycharm, as well as Ipsy’s brand incubator Madeby Collective, will all operate separately under the BFAI umbrella.  Later this year BFAI plans to launch another subscription, Refreshments, that will provide “clean essentials” like face wipes, hand cream, body cream and body wash. That business will be managed by Ipsy president Fernando Madeira and managed by Sabeen Mian as senior vice president.

Going forward, the collective business will be focused on personalizing experiences using member data and machine learning, merchandising third-party brands, developing fast-to-market products informed by member data, engaging the content-creation community and investing in leadership, technology, operations and customer service.

The BoxyCharm deal is expected to close by the end of the year. Morgan Stanley advised BoxyCharm on the deal. The business had been backed by private equity firm KarpReilly since 2017.