South Holland-based Naïf, a B-corp that makes skin-friendly care products for babies and their parents, announced on Tuesday that it has secured €23M from the European impact investor Future Business Partnership (FBP).
The Dutch company will use the funds to achieve sustainable growth, stimulate innovations to improve the personal care industry, and finance further expansion in new markets.
“This investment underlines that commercial success and positive impact can go hand in hand,” says Sjoerd Trompetter, founder of Naïf.
“Success goes beyond just financial growth. We chose FBP because of their shared values and dedication as an impact investor. This capital will enable us to continue to grow, innovate our products, and increase our positive impact on the grooming industry,” adds Trompetter.
Naïf: Makes skin-friendly care products
Jochem Hes and Sjoerd Trompetter founded Naïf in 2014 when they became fathers and had their hands on baby products.
They realised that baby care was full of ingredients that you didn’t want to put on your baby.
As a result, the founding duo decided to develop high-quality products to support parents in the first phase of their children’s lives.
Naïf’s products are free from potentially harmful substances and microplastics and aim to impact the global grooming industry positively.
The Dutch company also introduced the first Dutch mineral sunscreen, refill packaging, and plastic-free baby wipes.
Naïf says they have already saved more than the equivalent of 4 million PET bottles in plastic together with consumers.
To date, the company has sold millions of products, expanded its range to 50 products, is active in 10 countries, built a team of 35 professionals, and has increased turnover tenfold in the past four years.
Jochem Hes, co-founder of Naïf, adds, “The investment marks a milestone in our adventure. We started in 2014 with a dose of naivety but with faith in a better industry. Ten years later, we are proud of our growth and look forward to a new chapter.”
The investor
Future Business Partnership (FBP) is an impact-oriented investment company. By combining capital and deep sector expertise, FBP drives the transition to low-carbon, resource-efficient, and socially positive household consumption.
“Naïf is a perfect fit for our investment strategy,” says Tracey Huggett and Vish Srivastava, Managing Partners at FBP.
“It is an established, high-performing, and fast-growing sustainability industry leader, positively transforming the industry by increasing market share with products that offer more favorable conditions for people and have less negative impact on the planet. FBP was a perfect match for Sjoerd and Jochem from the start. They were looking for specialist commercial support from shareholders and an ethical partner who shared their vision, mission, and ambition,” the managing partners adds.
Additionally, this investment marks the end of the successful collaboration between Naïf and former investors, such as DOEN Participaties, the largest impact investor in sustainable and social startups in the Netherlands.
DOEN Participaties has been involved in the care brand since 2019.
The joint goal of becoming a ten times larger company within five years and thus making the market more sustainable has now been achieved.
Marc Rasmussen, Impact Investment Principal at DOEN Participaties, says, “DOEN stepped in because of Naïf’s role model. Many care products from large and well-known brands contain microplastics, hormone disruption, or other harmful ingredients. Naïf products contain these ingredients, and with its successful development, the company has helped the care products market move in the right direction and shown that things can be done differently.”
Read the orginal article: https://siliconcanals.com/news/startups/dutch-based-naif-raises-23m/
