Birchbox debuted in 2010 as the world’s first beauty subscription service. A landmark move that disrupted the cosmetics market by offering customers personalised samples through monthly subscriptions.
In 2018, Birchbox sold a majority stake to Viking Global Investors, the leading hedge fund, for US$15 million after a buyout deal with QVC, the US shopping channel, fell through. A few months later, Walgreens, the US drugstore giant, took a minority stake in the company, rolling out subscription boxes in hundreds of stores across the US.
FemTec Health, a health and beauty sciences company, has acquired Birchbox in a US$45 million deal. The company has raised US$38 million in funding to date from leading investors such as Unilever, Walgreens and the Estee Lauder Companies (ELC).
Launched by Dr Kimon Angelides, the founder of EosHealth and Diabetes America Inc, in May last year, FemTec was only publicly unveiled last month. Its mission is to re-position women’s health care through advanced genomics, predictive intelligence and digital technologies.
Katia Beauchamp, co-founder and CEO of Birchbox, will sell her remaining stake and continue as a strategic advisor. Although Birchbox will retain its beauty focus, going forward the company will survey its 300,000-plus subscribers to share personal health information and collect data through functions such as skin tests and analysis.
In its efforts to create a leading beauty and health science company, FemTec has also acquired MIRA BEAUTY, a digital beauty shopping tool and search engine which made the cut on Fast Company’s annual list of the world’s most innovative companies for 2021, and Liquid Grids, a social marketing company targeting the health sector.
Next year, FemTec will also launch Awesome Woman, a concierge-style telehealth platform to assist women during important life stages such as pregnancy and menopause.
Birchbox had already been considering a shift to wellness and will roll out well-being products and supplements in the near future.
Kimberley Capone, Chief Scientific Officer for FemTec, confirmed that the company had acquired Birchbox for its robust community and is also in the market for more acquisitions. “Starting with beauty and bringing wellness into that space and starting to educate women was just an obvious fit for us,” she noted.