Brandless hit the spotlight with another round of fundraising last week. The Brandless story has been a rollercoaster ride over the past 5+ years, with very high highs and low lows—but Brandless may be back on track.
Their original model? Tina Sharkey and Ido Leffler, launching Brandless in 2017, sought to bring DTC to CPG. They focused on “high-quality organic” products but eliminated the “brand tax” to reduce cost.
- Brandless created and owned the infrastructure to develop high quality, organic products. The goal was to be cheaper than what you find at more expensive, organic-forward stores (ie. Whole Food). From manufacturing to the actual selling, they had the whole pie—cutting out the middleman.
- They introduced a fresh approach to branding. Sharkey made the case that many grocery products contain what she called a “Brand Tax”, which could be up to 40% of the the product cost (to pay for the premium status and branding of said product).
- Sharkey & Leffler hired Red Antler to create simple packaging: white box, checklist of 2-5 descriptors and… that’s it.
The Brandless Timeline.
- Jul 2017 – Brandless Launches
- Jul 2018 – Brandless takes $240 million from SoftBank’s $100 billion Vision Fund
- Mar 2019 – Brandless cofounder and CEO Tina Sharkey resigned from her role
- Feb 2020 – Brandless shuts down due to pressure from Softbank to make faster profits and from other competitors entering the space
- Jun 2020 – Clarke Capital Partners acquired Brandless assets
- Jan 2021 – Cydni Tetro hired as CEO
- Aug 2021 – Brandless Raises $118 Million, one of the largest funding rounds raised by a woman CEO to date
Now, Brandless is shifting their business model. Their $118M will go aggressively towards acquisitions and their social commerce platform (ie. influencers and technology)—and calling it “influence-as-a-service”.
"Brandless is transforming commerce by creating influence-as-a-service and democratizing access to better-for-you products... By uniting brands with a mission and micro-influencers through technology, we’re creating a platform that makes everyone mission driven and empowers them to be a force for good. - Cyndi Tetro
A new CEO, funding, and direction—the rollercoaster hasn’t stopped for Brandless.
The Top Stories of Last Week:
- Kroger announced its second “Ghost Kitchen” partnership with Kitchen United. The first was with ClusterTruck in October 2020. Ghost kitchens are a space to watch—it’s a new avenue for retailers and brands to deliver value to consumers.
- Instacart adds another Facebook Vet to Exec Team – if there was a shadow of a doubt that Instacart sees advertising and Retail Media as a significant growth driver, they added Carolyn Everson as the new president (just a few weeks after naming Fidji Simo as the new CEO).
- There’s a trend of retailers focusing on employees. Investment in employee benefits, pay, and more are coming from Target, Walmart, CVS, and others.
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