Beauty e-tailer Currentbody gets £5m investment

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Apr 4, 2018

Manchester-based Currentbody has secured a £5 million growth capital investment from NVM Private Equity to support its next phase of expansion and accelerate is strategic initiatives.

The online retailer has seen “exceptional sales growth” in the last year, capitalising on its position as the only website specialising in beauty devices for home use. According to NVM, its success is a reflection of a business model that is pioneering the beauty e-commerce space, but also demonstrates the rapid progress of the at-home beauty technology sector.

The global beauty devices market is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 19.1% between 2017 and 2023, according to P&S Market Research and is estimated to be worth $94.4 billion by the end of that period.

Currentbody will use the investment to expand internationally and support working capital requirements.

“Our partnership with NVM is a significant step in developing our unique product offering internationally whilst continuing UK growth,” commented Laurence Newman, co-founder and CEO.

“The team at NVM shared our vision and most importantly immediately understood the market opportunity of a pure play beauty technology platform, making them an ideal cultural fit. Working with NVM will accelerate our ambition to provide the largest selection of clinically proven, at-home health and beauty technology in the world.  Exceptional product knowledge in this niche area of beauty and excellent customer care from our team has been so important to our success so far. NVM’s support will further ensure that those high levels remain as we expand.”

Liam May, investment manager of NVM Private Equity added: “Currentbody has enjoyed exceptional growth over the past few years, driven by an energetic and ambitious management team with a deep understanding of the beauty market. We are excited to support the company’s next phase of growth, establishing itself as the market leading e-commerce platform for beauty devices in the UK and across the globe.” 

Currentbody was co-founded by Laurence Newman and Andrew Showman, and is home to the biggest brands including L’Oréal’s market leading Clarisonic, NuFACE,SmoothSkin, Tria, Wellbox, Iluminage, Foreo and more.
It was recently named number 22 in the Northern Tech 100, a rank of the top 100 fastest growing tech companies in the North.