Led · Seed · Aug 2024

Great Many, launched in June 2024 by Michael Pollak and Steve Klebanow, operates a flagship growth studio in NoHo staffed with clinicians and hair experts offering personalized hair-growth plans. Its in-studio services include board-certified hair assessments, PRP (plasma hair restoration), and prescription oral and topical medications. The company has introduced a proprietary GrowthFactor Formula™ product line of four items (shampoo, conditioner, densifying serum, and scalp treatment) priced individually from $34–$49 and sold online and in-clinic. Great Many also launched a telemedicine platform to deliver prescriptions and consultations to customers outside NYC. The company emphasizes accessibility and affordability—offering PRP packages for under $2K and medications for less than $1/day—positioning itself as a one-stop, clinically oriented hair-growth solution. The business combines in-person clinic revenue streams, product sales, and telehealth services and recently closed a pre-seed round to fund expansion beyond its NoHo studio.

Led · Seed · Dec 2022

Iris&Romeo offers clean beauty products positioned to simplify morning routines and promote skin wellness. The brand emphasizes thoughtful, conscious product creation and is led by CEO Tara Desai and founder Michele Gough-Baril. The company is preparing a retail rollout, including a launch at Sephora. Iris&Romeo raised a Series A (amount undisclosed) to support this next stage. Proceeds will be used to improve retail readiness via supply chain sufficiencies, to elevate brand-first content, and to secure key hires. No operating metrics or revenue figures were disclosed in the article. Iris & Romeo sells clean-beauty, multitasking products — its hero product is Best Skin Days (a tinted moisturizer with SPF) and its latest launch, Weekend Skin, combines vitamin C with SPF 50. The brand emphasizes a tightly curated assortment and supports women-focused social causes through partnerships like Every Mother Counts and I Am A Voter. Management recently appointed Tara Desai (formerly of Estée Lauder) as CEO while founder Michelle Gough-Baril remains focused on creative and product development. The company reported that 55% of its revenue came from unpaid efforts between 2020 and the first half of 2021. Proceeds from the latest round will fund marketing and hiring (including a social media manager); the company plans direct-marketing growth via email, SEO, paid social and affiliates. Iris & Romeo aims for 300% year-over-year revenue growth in 2022, three additional product launches in 2022, further category expansion in 2023, and a retail launch plus a Series A by the end of 2023. Iris&Romeo is a direct-to-consumer beauty brand founded by former Smashbox executive Michele Gough Baril in October 2019. The company’s core product is Best Skin Days, a tinted moisturizer with SPF, and it focuses on skin-meets-makeup hybrid products for women generally between ages 30 and 50. Its formulations prioritize clean ingredients and glass packaging, and the brand has leaned on Instagram and Facebook and unpaid promotion—earning 55% of revenue from unpaid efforts over the past year. The company reported roughly 30% month-on-month growth through the pandemic, aided by celebrity fans who posted about gifted products. Plans for the new funding include growing the team, expanding the Best Skin Days shade range, launching two new products this year (another complexion product and an eye product), and continuing to scale DTC while beginning retailer conversations.

Led · Seed · Nov 2022

Guaranteed provides tech-enabled hospice services through a hybrid home model with 24/7 telemedicine coverage and well-trained in-person care. The company designs end-of-life care with patients and caregivers in mind and emphasizes inclusivity across races, abilities, genders, sexualities, and religions. Guaranteed will use its $6.5M seed to scale its platform, build out the patient experience, and expand into new markets. Hiring plans include hospice and clinical care professionals as well as engineering and marketing talent. The team combines expertise across healthcare, tech, and public policy to improve the hospice experience. The company positions itself to change how dying and death are treated in the U.S.

Led · Seed · Jul 2022

Wonderbelly produces an FDA-regulated over-the-counter antacid formulated to be 100% plastic-free and to use ingredients the company says are healthier than incumbents like Tums. The chewable product is non-GMO and vegan, containing calcium carbonate, vegetable cellulose, vegetable stearate, maize starch, sucrose and natural flavors. Founders Lucas and Noah Kraft launched Wonderbelly after Lucas’s experience with bulimia and nearly a decade of gastric issues, and amid safety concerns raised by the 2020 Zantac recall. The company launched publicly in June 2022 and acquired more than 1,000 customers in its first two weeks. Wonderbelly has assembled a team including Johanna Hunter (VP of Product and Manufacturing) and several gastroenterologists as advisors. It is currently focused on building a strong D2C brand with plans to enter retail and expand into other OTC medications in the future.

Led · Equity · Mar 2022

Acid League makes premium condiments, sauces and beverage products (including its non-alcoholic wine alternative, Proxies) and recently expanded into refrigerated prebiotic dressings. The company has been aggressive with product launches—110 products in 2021 and 15 new products into Whole Foods this winter, plus 12 new SKUs in Whole Foods this month. Direct-to-consumer sales account for roughly 50% of revenue, the channel is already profitable, and average order value is north of $60 per customer. The company reports revenues north of $10 million and has raised capital to support growth. Acid League is moving to a 40,000 square foot production facility in Guelph, Ontario, plans to hire production and operations staff, and is pursuing self-manufacturing to reduce co-packer constraints and speed retailer fulfillment. Management said it will slow the pace of retail launches in 2022 while continuing DTC innovation and collaborations. Acid League builds a platform of acid-forward food and beverage products sold both in retail and direct-to-consumer channels. The company owns its manufacturing process and built a plant near its Toronto headquarters, which enabled rapid SKU expansion. Its products appear in roughly 800 U.S. stores and 150 Canadian stores and carry a typical retail MSRP of $7.99–$9.99, while DTC items and subscriptions carry higher price points. The brand launches frequent online limited releases (about one per week) and introduces three new Wine Proxies offerings each month; Wine Proxies is sold at $70 for three bottles. Management says revenue is growing quickly and is “very quickly” approaching eight‑digit territory. Future plans emphasize omnichannel sales and marketing expansion, more quick-turn beverages, and broader center-store SKU proliferation.