Victoria Thain Gioia launched Perelel five years ago as a supplement business selling vitamins tailored to each stage of the fertility cycle, from trying to conceive, to specific trimesters, to postpartum. Since then, the startup has expanded to other categories of the women\u2019s wellness craze, from greens powders to protein. <\/p>\n
To enter its next phase of growth, Fortune is the first to report, Perelel just raised $27 million from Prelude Growth Partners. Thain Gioia, the brand\u2019s CEO, and her cofounders Alex Taylor and Dr. Banafsheh Bayati weren\u2019t out looking for capital, but were approached by Prelude\u2014and took the opportunity to bring on a strategic partner and deliver a return to early angel investors. While Perelel declined to confirm exactly who got bought out, early angel investors in the brand included the fashion influencer Aimee Song, former The Hills star Whitney Port, and former execs from Revolve and Glossier. The company declined to share revenue and has 35 employees.<\/p>\n
Prelude was founded by Neda Daneshzadeh and Alicia Sontag, who came from the consumer world via L Catterton and Johnson & Johnson Beauty. Their portfolio includes several buzzy beauty brands, like Summer Fridays, Tower 28, and Westman Atelier. <\/p>\n
Beauty retailers like Sephora<\/a> have started carrying more wellness products outside what is strictly considered \u201cbeauty.\u201d Thain Gioia sees the two categories as connected. The beauty industry likes to talk about \u201cbeauty from within,\u201d and \u201csupplements are kind of that bridge,\u201d she says. Both products are part of someone\u2019s daily routine. \u201cIt\u2019s the same consumer,\u201d she says, someone seeking efficacy and quality. \u201cHow you speak to her, a very similar business model, and how you build brand awareness.\u201d <\/p>\n The supplement space is a crowded one, with competitive brands like Ritual, traditional multivitamins, and the powders and greens Perelel is now getting into. <\/p>\n With this new capital, Perelel aims to increase its brand awareness and reach more customers. Thain Gioia hopes to hold onto what has made the brand catch on with its consumer so far\u2014including an individualized approach to very personal moments, like pregnancy loss. The brand sends a candle and handwritten note to women it sees cancel subscriptions to prenatal vitamins. <\/p>\n \u201cHow do we continue to have these moments where we deeply understand where this woman is, and we want to support her in different ways?\u201d Thain Gioia reflects. \u201cWe can build new products and new categories and continue to support this woman.\u201d <\/p>\n Emma Hinchliffe The Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter is Fortune\u2019s daily briefing for and about the women leading the business world. Subscribe here<\/a>.<\/p>\n ALSO IN THE HEADLINES<\/p>\n A senator is pushing for an investigation into JPMorgan’s ties to Epstein. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, wants to know whether the bank deliberately underreported more than $1 billion in suspicious transactions. JPM has said it regrets its dealings with the late convicted sex offender and did what it could based on information at the time. NYT<\/a><\/p>\n Plus Larry Summers’ Epstein fallout continues.\u00a0After first saying he would only step back from public engagements, he’s now taking teaching leave<\/a> from Harvard too while it investigates. And he’s off the board of OpenAI<\/a> after new details came to light about his interactions with Jeffrey Epstein.\u00a0<\/p>\n The WNBA proposes a $1.1 million salary cap.\u00a0A Nov. 30 deadline to reach a contract with players is approaching. The minimum salary in the proposal would be $220,000\u2014a number close to the current\u00a0maximum\u00a0of $250,000.\u00a0The Athletic<\/a><\/p>\n Bath & Body Works’ new CEO is criticizing the strategy of his predecessor. Under CEO Gina Boswell<\/a>, the retailer expanded into new categories like laundry detergent and shampoo with its signature scents. But CEO Daniel Heaf is saying it didn’t work, and sales of its core products like body lotion and candles suffered. “Adjacencies are never quite as adjacent as people think they are,” he said.\u00a0WSJ<\/a><\/p>\n ON MY RADAR<\/p>\n Trump’s DEI slayer is just getting started\u00a0WSJ<\/a><\/p>\n How an $11 billion beauty company built a suburban empire\u00a0Bloomberg<\/a><\/p>\n Rachel Reeves’ gambit\u00a0FT<\/a><\/p>\n PARTING WORDS<\/p>\n “There\u2019s also not a lot of fun in trying to be perfect. So why try to do that if you want to have fun?”<\/p>\n
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com<\/a><\/p>\n