Umberto Giannini, the Birmingham-based hair care firm, has acquired a seven-figure financing bundle to assist it enter new worldwide markets.
Well-known for its Curl Jelly product, which sells one tube per minute worldwide, the corporate focuses on creating vegan, cruelty-free hair care merchandise for on-line customers and retailers, together with Boots, Subsequent and Waitrose.
Final 12 months alone, the corporate elevated its billed gross sales by 35% 12 months over 12 months.
Practically two-thirds of Umberto Giannini’s buyer base are within the UK and in addition promote in North America and the Center East. The funding will likely be used to discover new markets in Eire, the Netherlands and Australia, whereas the extra money movement will allow the corporate to carry extra stock to satisfy demand and shield towards future provide chain disruptions.
The corporate, run totally by girls, was co-founded in 1998 by the late movie star hairstylist Umberto Giannini and his companion Claire Shread, with the purpose of serving to girls of all hair textures, with a deal with curls, love their hair.
In 2021, Umberto Giannini turned the primary UK excessive avenue hair care model to be licensed as a B CORP, recognizing its dedication to demonstrating excessive requirements of social and environmental impression.
Greater than 90% of the packaging is created from recycled materials or pure sugar cane and the corporate areas all run on 100% renewable power, with all 16 staff working from dwelling to scale back emissions from journey. At the least 1% of annual income are donated to charitable causes, together with girls’s shelters, environmental teams and animal charities.
The corporate is at the moment testing jumbo pack sizes to scale back packaging and hopes to pilot refill stations by means of its retail companions.
Claire Shread, co-founder of Umberto Giannini, mentioned: “As a producer within the magnificence trade, we’re all the time conscious of the moral impression we’ve got on the planet as an entire, ensuring our model is as inclusive as doable. Hair might be an essential assertion of who we’re and it’s important to us that everybody is widely known for their very own distinctive type and illustration of themselves. We hope to broaden dialogue within the curly hair neighborhood and promote integration into the broader trade.
“Now we have already achieved so lots of our environmental objectives, however a private ambition of mine is to make sure that our packaging is each 100% recyclable and recycled, whereas remaining reasonably priced and accessible to our various buyer base. The help we’ve got acquired from Lloyds Financial institution is twofold: we are able to put money into how our merchandise are made and the place they go. By exploring new markets, we are able to deliver our distinctive values to much more waves, curls and coils on the planet.”
Tony Hanley, relationship supervisor, SME banking at Lloyds Financial institution, mentioned: “Umberto Giannini is an extremely spectacular firm that has grown within the Midlands and is rising quickly regardless of the present market and provide chain challenges. The corporate additionally stays dedicated to sustaining the very best moral and environmental requirements, an strategy we not solely help, however hope to see extra firms undertake.
“Whether or not launching new services and products, or exploring new advertising and marketing, we will likely be with firms each step of the best way.”
