Birchbox is a

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

-based online monthly

subscription service The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer must pay a recurring price at regular intervals for access to a Product (business), product or Service (business), service. The model Publication by subscription, was pioneer ...

that sends its subscribers a box of four to five selected samples of makeup or other beauty-related products. The products include skincare items, perfumes, organic-based products, and various other cosmetics. Since 2023, it has been owned by Retention Brands.

History

Birchbox was established in September 2010 by Katia Beauchamp and Hayley Barna, both graduates of

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate school, graduate business school of Harvard University, a Private university, private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which p ...

. In October 2010, Birchbox's initial funding began with $1.4 million in seed funding from investors including First Round and Accel Partners. In August 2011, Birchbox received $10.5 million in Series A Funding. In April 2014, it raised $60 million in Series B funding, led by

Viking Global Investors Viking Global Investors is an American investment management firm headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut that specializes in long-short equity, long-only equity, and private equity strategies. History It was established in October 1999 by its ...

, and saw participation from First Round Capital,

Accel Partners Accel, formerly known as Accel Partners, is a global venture capital firm. Accel works with startups in seed, early and growth-stage investments. The company has offices in Palo Alto, California and San Francisco, California, with additional ope ...

, Aspect Partners, and Consigliere Brand Capital. In July 2014, the company opened its first brick-and-mortar store in New York's Soho neighborhood. As of 2014, Birchbox was valued at $485 million. In October, it partnered with

Soldsie Soldsie is a social eCommerce platform based in San Francisco, CA. Co-founders Chris Bennett (CEO) and Arrel Gray (CTO) met through the startup community of Silicon Valley in 2011. They officially launched Soldsie in May 2012 at a time when the v ...

to launch its first

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shop. The shop allows Instagram users interested in Birchbox products to purchase directly through Instagram by leaving a comment on a photo with the hashtag #birchboxcart. In 2015, Barna stepped down from the co-CEO role at the company and joined the

First Round Capital First Round Capital is a US-based venture capital firm that specializes in providing seed-stage funding to technology companies. Founded by Josh Kopelman and Howard Morgan First Round typically provides seed-stage funding and focuses on po ...

firm as a venture partner. In January 2016, the company cut 15% of its staff. Five months after raising $90 million, it had a minority stake acquired in October 2018 by

Walgreens Walgreens is an American pharmacy store chain. It is the second largest in the United States, behind CVS Pharmacy. As of March 2025, the company operated more than 8,700 stores in the U.S. Walgreens has been the subject of a number of lawsuit ...

, whose stores began offering its service. However, Birchbox cut 70% of its staff of 230 employees in January 2020. After being purchased by

start-up A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship includes all new businesses including self-employment and businesses that do not intend ...

FemTec for $45 million in October 2021, the online subscription service was acquired in 2023 by Retention Brands.

Business

As of Jan 2021, Birchbox has 300 thousand subscribers and 500 thousand active customers. Birchbox's incentive is that the consumer will choose to purchase the full-sized product of whatever sample they've grown to like from the Birchbox website afterward. As of 2021, about 5% of box subscribers went on to make full-size purchases. After subscribing, the customer takes a "beauty profile" survey that aims to customize their future selections to suit their preferences better.

References

External links

* {{official website, https://www.birchbox.com Cosmetics companies of the United States Subscription services 2023 mergers and acquisitions

History

Business

See also

References

External links