Wild Raises £5M From Innocent Drinks’ Founder’s Fund, JamJar
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George Taylor
- 17th February 2022
- 8 minute read
Wild has closed a further £5M from the Innocent Drinks’ Founder’s Fund, JamJar, to ramp up its mission to tidy up the bathroom’s grubby environmental footprint.
Raising £7.5 million to date, existing investors Creator Collective Capital, dutch Slingshot Ventures also participated again. Prominent digital creators and influencers including Niomi Smart (1.4m following), Grace Beverley (1m following) and Caspar Lee (2.4m following) also followed on with their initial investment from Wild’s previous rounds.
Wild are on a mission to abolish single-use-plastics, and unnecessary chemicals from everyday bathroom routines. They’re a design-led personal-care start-up, that pioneered the UK’s first ever plastic-free refillable deodorant in 2019. The business was launched by HelloFresh’s former Marketing Director, Freddy Ward, and Charlie Bowes-Lyon. To date, the brand has raised a total of £7.5M.
Cementing a loyal following, and culminating an eight-figure revenue in their first full year of trading, the popular subscription-based start-up recorded a 400% YoY growth in 2021, selling 2.5 million units of their gender-neutral line of elegantly-designed, natural compostable deodorants.
The collection includes a wide range of scents that are free from harsh chemicals, such as parabens and aluminium salts. Wild has sold over two and a half million 100% biodegradable deodorants since launching, with over half a million customers to date. The products are the highest-rated natural deodorants in the UK on TrustPilot.
The reusable aluminium cases come in six metallic shades: aqua, electric blue, coral, pink, black, and purple. The biodegradable deodorant comes in a bamboo pulp refill, that’s inserted into the case via a simple twist mechanism.
The cream-based, vegan formula is made with natural botanical oils, butters and waxes, and it’s free from gluten, aluminium, BHT and triclosan. It features ten sophisticated scent choices driven by its own consumer feedback: it’s a mass premium product that’s extremely user-friendly.
With over 500 stockists nationwide (including Waitrose, Boots, Selfridges and Sainsbury’s), the plastic-free vegan refill (which has amassed a cult-like Instagram following) is set to triple it’s footprint in 2022. The London-headquartered company will use the funding to grow internationally, and expansion will involve stretching their existing product range into other personal care segments/categories.
Wild is also preparing to become a certified B Corporation. To support their eco-credentials, they’ve planted over 150K trees to date, and they’ve donated over £45,000 to charity, through their partnership with On A Mission.
”Charlie and I are part of a generation that have grown up scrutinising waste, unnecessary packaging, and potentially harmful ingredients. Consumers are starting to address the uncomfortable reality of single-use plastic waste across their households. The bathroom and personal care market still has a way to go in terms of reducing household landfill. Less than 50% of products are recycled, compared to 80% of kitchen products,” said Freddy.
“Fortunately though, the sector has shifted up a gear. We’re proud to be leading a category that has jumped seven-fold since we unveiled the first iteration of the product, just shy of 30 months ago. I believe that we’re challenging some of the famous legacy personal care players to move and adapt quicker, which ultimately spurs us on,” added Freddy.
“We’re now on our sixth iteration of the product, which is convincing even more people to switch, without having to compromise. We’ve also re-engineered systems and processes to innovate quickly to stay ahead of the curve,” he continued.
“Just as consumers had an appetite for more natural ingredients in their smoothies twenty years ago, now, we are seeing this trend picking up momentum in the personal-care sector, too. We love businesses like Wild, with a positive mission, and an ambitious team that are tackling important problems we face as a society today,” said Richard Reed, from JamJar Investments.
“Where ‘zero waste’ was once only the preserve of the most committed eco-warrior, it now represents an accessible choice that all shoppers can embrace on their own level. Wild is not just kind to your skin and the planet, – but it’s crucially effective against sweat, too. Freddy and Charlie are doing a great job of making sustainability in-reach, and more convenient for everyone,” added Richard.
“As the refill revolution becomes increasingly more mainstream, we believe that Wild’s established understanding of the sector, products, and it’s customers, paired with their nimbleness, – puts them in a strong position to continue to build on their success,” he said.
