Jessica Alba’s clean-living startup, The Honest Company — a subscription ecommerce service selling eco-friendly, non-toxic family-oriented products such as diapers, skin care and cleaning products — has closed a $25 million Series B funding round, led by Institutional Venture Partners, and joined by Iconiq Capital.
Existing investors Lightspeed Venture Partners and General Catalyst Partners also participated in the round. The Honest Company has pulled in some $52 million in funding to date.
The subscription ecommerce startup, which gets customers to sign up for different monthly bundles of products and also sells via small scale partnerships with bricks-and-mortar retailers (such as this one), said it plans to use the new funding to accelerate growth initiatives, including international expansion outside the U.S. — describing its recent launch into Canada as a “positive” step for its growth.
It will also be channeling the funding into new product development, to continue building out the range of items it offers, and said it plans to improve its distribution capabilities and brand accessibility, likely by adding more retail partners.
The Honest Company has apparently managed double-digit growth since its launch in January last year, but isn’t breaking out any more detailed traction data at this point. Its growth figures have managed to impress VCs, although the visibility of Alba — an actress who only has to buy her co-workers coffee to get a write up in the Daily Mail — can’t hurt.
The company also promotes its products via its own tips-focused blog for families. And, in keeping with its clean-living image, helps connect its customers with non-profits via partnerships that have led to more than 30,000 families making donations of product and time since the service kicked off.