November 8, 2021

Black-Owned Beauty Platform That Received $1M From Diddy And Gwyneth Paltrow Secures $3M In New Seed Round

Thirteen Lune, a direct-to-consumer beauty platform that was launched last year in LA with $1 million in seed funding from Diddy and Gwyneth Paltrow, has just announced $3 million in additional seed funding. 

The round was led by Fearless Fund with participation by Capstar Ventures, Fab Ventures, Swiftarc Beauty, and Gaingels.

This round brings funding raised to date to $4.5 million.

The Fearless Fund is a venture firm that was founded by women of color and is making its mark by focusing exclusively on backing women of color.

Thirteen Lune has also partnered with JCPenney on its new post-Sephora beauty revamp, launching shop-in-shop locations. Ten locations opened recently, and the companies are planning for 600 locations by 2023.

Founded by Nyakio Grieco, the e-commerce platform sells products from 100 different brands, 90% of which were founded by Black, Indigenous, and people of color. 

Ms. Grieco is a first-generation American of Kenyan descent, and almost 20 years ago she left her job working in Hollywood to create the beauty brand based on her Kenyan family’s beauty secrets.

A product has to have a strong founder story because people buy into people before they buy into the product. We also have what we call our beauty vanguard, which is influencers, makeup artists, celebrities, and friends who help us because we have such an enormous amount of products coming our way. And we have certain standards, including that we want all products to be clean, nontoxic, with good-for-you ingredients. [And we want them] to really serve a need, focusing on our melanin-rich, textured-hair customer first — those who have been the most underserved — but also to really represent the globe.

Nyakio Grieco in TechCrunch
Abbianca Makoni

Abbianca Makoni is a content executive and writer at POCIT! She has years of experience reporting on critical issues affecting diverse communities around the globe.

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