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Glossier Is Worth a Billion Dollars, What Are You Doing With Your Life?

Photo: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Glossier, NYC-based beauty brand, offspring of beauty blog Into the Gloss, parent to this newly birthed mango-scented balm, and poster child of the word “dewy” will henceforth be referred to as a unicorn. Not because the brand recently launched a sub-brand of shiny and sparkly color cosmetics, but because the startup is currently valued at $1.2 billion — a whole $200 million over the $1 billion mark a privately held company needs to hit to ascend to unicorn status.

The metaphorical horn acquisition comes after the company’s latest funding round, in which it raised $100 million from investors led by Sequoia Capital, according to a statement released by the brand yesterday. It also points out that Glossier has done a lot of other impressive things for a four-year-old, like more than double its annual revenue last year, surpass $100 million as a fully direct-to-consumer business, currently operate in seven countries, and employ more than 200 people across three offices.

“Baby me in 2014 wasn’t sure if we could afford the next hire, didn’t know if anyone would like her idea for a beauty company, was engaged to be married, and hardly knew a venture capitalist from a bank teller,” Emily Weiss, Glossier founder and CEO/millennial Estée Lauder, wrote in an Instagram post. “Emily in 2019 has been through hell and high water to build an incredible company with incredible people, endured heartbreak and experienced new love, and been among a very small minority of women raising this kind of money at these kinds of prices, to build the things they believe in.”

Turns out a lot of people believe in what Weiss believes in: confidence-boosting mirror selfies, no-makeup-makeup-but-also-sometimes-makeup, a robust online presence, avoiding Sephora, approachable skin care, damp-looking faces, minimalist packaging, and reusable bubble wrap. “This is one of the most efficient direct-to-consumer businesses we’ve encountered, and with this new capital, we believe Glossier is well positioned to define the next era of the beauty industry,” said Michael Abramson, a partner at Sequoia, in a statement.

Long live Millennial Pink.

Glossier Is Worth Over a Billion Dollars