On track to hit north of $50M in its first year, W is already breaking
records as the best launch in Walmart's 'Emerging Brands'
category
MIAMI, July 23,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- W, the men's personal care brand
from Jake Paul made to smell great
and designed to work harder, today announced it has raised a Series
A led by Shrug Capital. Valued north of $150
million, W has raised $14
million in funding to-date, inclusive of seed financing and
incubation from Anti Fund. Prominent co-investors include Range
Group, 305 Ventures, Uphonest Capital, Quiet Capital and Palm Tree
Crew, with participation from individuals including Celsius' CEO
John Fieldly, Fanatic's CEO
Michael Rubin, Lil Durk, Nick Kyrgios, Naomi Osaka, and
Carter Reum and Paris Hilton.
"It's incredibly important to me that W fill the void that's
been apparent in the men's personal care category for decades,"
said Jake Paul, Founder of W.
"Everything W does is different — from driving record sales in
under a month to our forward-thinking approach to creator
partnerships. Our funding to date reflects our investors'
confidence in the immense opportunity we have to build a new type
of legacy brand in unique and unexpected ways. I invested my own
capital into this company along with my partner and Co-Founder
Geoffrey Woo because we strongly
believe in W's runway to achieve a massive and successful
future."
Launched last month exclusively at Walmart, W is already
breaking records as the retailer's best launch in its 'Emerging
Brands' category history, blowing past seven figures in sales and
on track to hit north of $50 million
in sales by the end of its first year. W will use the capital to
support both SKU and retailer expansion as the company continues on
its mission to reinvigorate the men's personal care aisle through
its better-for-you products at a great value.
"The industry is riddled with legacy players that are taking
antiquated approaches and in turn are losing market and mindshare,"
said Moshe Lifschitz, Shrug
Capital's Managing Partner. "When we think about brands that will
shape the next generation of household brands, W has all the
characteristics. We are extremely excited to partner with Jake,
Woodie, and Geoff and look forward to the many wins to come."
W has also assembled an all-star team of W Co-Owners — a roster
of celebrity and influential brand ambassadors who embody the
winning spirit in their respective industries. The equity holders
announced to-date include MMA champion and ESPN's 2024 Best UFC
Fighter recipient, Sean O'Malley and
hip-hop megastar, Rubi Rose, with
more Co-owners to be announced soon. The goal of the Co-Owners
is to bring together people Paul admires who represent hard work,
ambition, and do things differently across their unique domains of
expertise.
"We realized the typical direct-to-consumer playbook wasn't
right for us and instead decided to launch retail-first with
Walmart, America's biggest retailer," said W's CEO and Co-Founder,
Woodie Hillyard. "I'm extremely
excited to see that consumers are reacting so positively to W since
our launch just last month. We're looking forward to expanding our
consumer touchpoints and breaking records as one of the biggest CPG
brands to hit the market."
For more information, visit www.getw.com and follow @itscalledw
on Instagram and TikTok.
About W
W is a men's personal care brand founded by
pro-boxer, entrepreneur and digital creator, Jake Paul, that is made to smell great and
designed to work harder. Founded to give men the confidence to win
in all pursuits of life, W's better-for-you products are designed
to work hard when you need them most. Offering a range of
accessibly priced products for hair, body, and face, W products are
vegan, cruelty-free, and formulated without phthalates, parabens,
harsh sulfates, or artificial dyes. W's formulas are infused with
vitamins like Magnesium, Biotin, and Vitamin E to nourish hair and
skin. The collection is available in three uplifting scents that
were developed with mood-boosting fragrances. W can be found
nationwide at Walmart and on Walmart.com. For more information,
visit www.getw.com.
About Shrug Capital
Shrug Capital invests in
culturally relevant companies and has an impressive portfolio in
the consumer space including MrBeast's Feastables and Liquid Death.
The firm was founded in 2018 and is led by Niv Dror and Moshe
Lifschitz. Shrug manages over $125
million in AUM and invests across a variety of industries.
Shrug has unique access to business leaders, founders, executives,
and celebrities who regularly co-invest and work with the companies
Shrug partners with. Shrug is known to be super connectors,
bridging the gap between leaders in tech and entertainment. More at
www.shrug.vc.
About Anti Fund
Anti Fund is a venture capital firm
founded by Jake Paul and
Geoffrey Woo in 2021. Anti Fund
believes the best founders are rebels and iconoclasts, and the
"anti" ethos resonates with the very best engineers, scientists,
and creators. Startups live and die on two levers: capital and
attention. While capital is fungible, the ability to
command attention is not. Whether a company sells consumer products
or is a research lab producing AI & robotic foundational
models, they all must compete on the ability to win mindshare and
ultimately customers and revenues. Visit www.antifund.vc for
more information.
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SOURCE W Labs Inc.