Luna Daily secures £3M investment and launches into US with exclusive listing in Sephora
Luna Daily, the intimate body care brand, has closed a £3m investment round and has entered into North America as the first exclusive UK intimate care brand to launch at global beauty retailer, Sephora.
Led by Redrice, Joyance Partners, Velocity Juice and Angel investors, the seed round will be used to support the global expansion of Luna Daily just one year after it was founded by beauty industry veteran Katy Cottam. Luna Daily is over 70% female owned and has a 70% female senior leadership team. The funding will enable the company to drive new product development and to further its mission to eradicate shame and normalise the conversation around intimate care.
Created to give women a ‘choice’ and combining body care with the outdated ‘feminine hygiene’ category, Luna Daily is microbiome-balancing body care for all skin, even the most intimate, and is designed for women and people with vulvas across all life stages from puberty, through motherhood, to menopause.
The brand's products will be listed by global retail giant, Sephora, online and across 260+ stores in North America (04.04.23 online, 14.04.23 in-store). In the UK, Luna Daily has secured significant retail distribution to date and in January ‘23 launched onto Harrods.com and into Harrods Beauty as the first intimate care brand of its kind.
The brands innovative Spray-To-Wipe product will be featured on Sephora’s ‘Next Big Thing’ wall and is the world’s first natural eco-alternative to single use wipes - one bottle is equivalent to 300 wipes; in 2022 alone the brand estimates it saved 2 million wipes from going into landfill.
As the brand’s own research shows that 43% of women feel their washing routines are causing them to have a gynae issue, the funding will also be used to establish a female intelligence platform, including educational resources and 24/7 live chat function with medical experts to improve education around intimate care.
Katy Cottam, founder and CEO of Luna Daily said: “For so many women, their intimate skin is an afterthought, only prioritised when there is a ‘problem’ and they’re forced to use outdated feminine hygiene products which have ‘what’s wrong with her?’ associations.
“My vision is to get rid of this ‘feminine hygiene’ category altogether. I created Luna Daily to give women a choice about how they care for their bodies - as we say, from head, vulva, knees and toes.
“We’re proud to be leading the next evolution in the female wellness category and Sephora is the perfect retail partner, boldly championing this category and celebrating innovations from emerging brands like ours. It's a huge milestone for a UK startup to be the first ever UK brand of our kind to launch in Sephora, helping to grow this category and educate their clients.”
Cindy Deily, VP Skincare Merchandising at Sephora said: “Sephora is thrilled to partner with Luna Daily and continue bringing our clients best-in-class products that support all their beauty and wellness needs. With its inclusive approach and effective, clean formulations, Luna Daily offers products that support the unique needs of women at all stages of life and helps reinforce Sephora’s commitment to this important, growing category of intimate care. We look forward to introducing Luna Daily to our Sephora community and know it will be a wonderful addition to our assortment.”
Robert Senior, Founder of Fallon, ex Worldwide CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi and Partner at Redrice said: “We back early stage businesses that have the courage and insight, foresight and resilience to try and rewrite the agendas and accepted norms. Katy has smuggled the difficult conversations into mainstream parlance with a surefooted elegance, evidenced by her partnership with Sephora, whose purpose is not to shock rather to delight its shoppers. We felt Luna Daily is shockingly delightful and we’re thrilled to be a part of the journey.”
Claire Cherry, Investment Partner at Joyance said: “We invest in the future of health and happiness, and back businesses that delight and bring joy. Luna Daily fits perfectly within this ethos and meets a clear need in the feminine health market.”
Flavia Richardson, CCO at Velocity Juice said: “Velocity Juice’s mission is to empower founders to accelerate their growth. We are proud to have backed Luna Daily as an emerging leading consumer brand focused on addressing the ever-increasing needs of female health.”
We’ve done a lot of work across life stages, from motherhood to menopause and Luna Daily is filling a void by creating innovative, high quality products to meet the needs of all women. We are excited to support Katy and the team to change the narrative around feminine hygiene and embrace its health impact for current and future generations..”
Katy Cottam has established an advisory board of beauty wellness industry heavyweights including Sarah Watt (Director) (formerly CMO Charlotte Tilbury, Ex L’Oreal); Karen Raghavan (formerly VP/GM at Benefit Cosmetics, Biossance); Ian Hardie (Global VP of Learning and Dev Sephora, LVMH); Vic Feebury (formerly Boots); James Houston (formerly Charlotte Tilbury, Dr Sturm, Pat McGrath, L'Oreal); Johnny Heilbron (Redrice, formerly Thomas Pink, LVMH).
