ILIA Beauty Announces Series B Investment From Sandbridge

LAGUNA BEACH, Calif., Jan. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- ILIA Beauty ("ILIA" or the "Company"), a leading prestige line of clean color cosmetics, has announced a Series B investment partnership led by Sandbridge Capital ("Sandbridge"), a private investment firm with offices in Los Angeles and New York that invests exclusively in high growth global branded consumer companies. The capital infusion follows a Series A led by Silas Capital ("Silas"), a New York-based emerging growth equity firm that invests behind exceptional next generation consumer brands, which also participated significantly in this round of funding.

ILIA offers a "full face" assortment of more than 100 clean, skin-centric makeup products crafted with certified organic ingredients and non-toxic synthetics to ensure that each delivers beyond the expectations of natural makeup. Its unique combination of brilliant pigments, active skincare ingredients, superior performance and nourishing organics has earned ILIA a leading position in this fast-growing category. Additionally, the brand strives to ensure that its products are manufactured ethically and sustainably, including the use of recycled aluminum and post-consumer recycled paper printed with vegetable-based dyes.

The Company currently sells through more than 600 doors across 30 countries around the world, including prominent retailers such as Credo, Space NK, The Detox Market, Follain, Bluemercury, Oh My Cream, Mecca and the industry leader Sephora — where it is the most productive brand within its clean color cosmetics initiative, and offers one of the top-performing SKUs within the mascara category (Limitless Lash Mascara) on Sephora.com.

Sasha Plavsic, the Company's Founder and Creative Director, expressed her excitement about the Series B investment. "This capital and partnerships will ensure we can continue to innovate and invest heavily in R&D. I strive to offer the highest-performance clean products powered by high active levels of skincare ingredients. These innovative formulas are unlike anything out there on the market."

Lynda Berkowitz, the Company's CEO, commented, "I am thrilled to partner with Ken Suslow and the Sandbridge team, as well as work together again with Brian Thorne at Silas Capital. Their investment and industry expertise will greatly support pronounced growth opportunities for ILIA."  Berkowitz joined the brand in 2016 after working for brands like, Too Faced, Perricone MD and Bobbi Brown.

Ken Suslow, Sandbridge Founding Managing Partner, added: "ILIA impresses as a very special brand that is authentically and transparently true to its clean purpose driven mission, thoughtfully unifying prestige and clean beauty in support of its uniquely elevated brand. We are highly enthused to be partnering with Sasha and Lynda, and very much look forward to leveraging Sandbridge's expertise as global brand builders in support of ILIA's compelling growth trajectory."

Since its founding with the backing of an iconic group of consumer industry operators and advisors, Sandbridge has been strategically partnering with global brands in the luxury, beauty, health and wellness, and disruptive consumer-based technology industries, including representative strategic investments in Thom Browne, The RealReal, Youth to the People, Rossignol, and Farfetch.

Silas focuses on category leading brands within the emerging growth segment of the consumer landscape. The firm not only invests capital to help these companies grow, but also brings significant resources and capabilities to actively assist in company growth through their expertise in e-commerce and digital expansion, alongside their knowledge of traditional wholesale and retail channels. Current investments include Herbivore Botanicals, HATCH, Bellroy, Casper, Naadam and Summersalt.

Brian Thorne, Partner of Silas, stated, "We're extremely proud of the success that Sasha, Lynda and the ILIA team have achieved over the past year since our initial investment, and even more thrilled about what's to come for this truly innovative brand. With additional growth capital, a strong new partnership with Sandbridge and the continued support of our firm, we intend to further solidify ILIA's position as the category leader in clean color cosmetics."