Razor-sharp online start-up gets £1.25m investment
A razor subscription service for women has secured £1.25m funding to support a big media campaign to promote its brand and services.
Friction Free Shaving – which has the acronym FFS – has agreed a deal with Athene Capital to drive growth in partnership with one of Britain’s largest publishing groups, Northern & Shell.
Cannock-based FFS plans to use a “significant portion” of the investment on a promotional campaign with Northern & Shell, whose media portfolio includes OK! and New! magazines, Express and Star newspapers, together with access to multi-channel television advertising inventory.
It currently has more than 8,000 monthly subscribers, helped by £150,000 it secured a year ago through crowdfunding platform Seedrs
It is now targeting trebling its active customer base by the end of this year.
Briar Keen, co-founder of Friction Free Shaving, said: “We are thrilled about this deal and have already seen some really encouraging results from our early activities with the Northern & Shell media team.”
The company launched its first set of products 18 months ago and has ambitions to claim a sizable chunk of the women’s shaving market, estimated to be worth several hundred million pounds in the UK alone.
Lloyd Thomas, Managing Partner of Athene Capital added: “The management team at Friction Free Shaving have identified a huge and untapped opportunity in the market of women’s shaving subscriptions. We are very confident in their ability to drive rapid growth and are excited to be backing them.”
