Last month, all-inclusive e-commerce platform Thirteen Lune kicked off its launch to support more Black and brown-owned beauty brands.
Now the online beauty hub has raised $1 million to expand its development with help from several investors, including media mogul and entertainer Sean “Diddy” Combs, WWD reports.
“I believe in the Thirteen Lune mission to build generational wealth for Black and brown business owners,” said Combs in a statement. “Nyakio and Patrick have the vision and grit to build a world-class platform, and I’m excited to be an investor and adviser.”
In addition to Diddy’s participation, WWD shares that Thirteen Lune also enlisted other well-known early investors such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Naomi Watts, Gregg Renfrew of the Beautycounter, Tracey Cunningham of Mèche salon, former U.S. Ambassador Nicole Avant, venture capitalist Patrick Finnegan, and Sydney Holland of Urban and The Mystic.
“Through this capital that we raised, $1 million with our friends and family, and as we kick off our seed round, this is directed to the development and growth and scale of the site,” co-founder Patrick Herning told WWD. “For as much as it’s about Thirteen Lune growing, it’s about the greater ecosystem of Black and brown and ultimately ally-founded brands that will flip the script on what inclusive beauty retail means.”
The idea for Thirteen Lune’s platform came about amid the revival of the Black Lives Matter movement in summer of 2020.
“Summer hit, and the answer was right in front of us,” co-founder Nyakio Grieco said to WWD. “We obviously experienced at this last pinnacle moment of Black Lives Matter a shift within the industry, and I’ve always felt that the fashion industry and beauty industry have a real huge opportunity and responsibility to be catalysts for change when it comes to inclusivity and unity.”
As a Black woman, raising $1 million in capital in such a short amount of time is a first for Grieco, but she believes the mission behind her brand is something that the industry has been missing out on for some time now.
“So many businesses and initiatives geared toward Black and brown founders are optically driven and don’t address the fundamental problem of helping these talented entrepreneurs build equitable businesses,” said Paltrow — actress and founder of Goop — in an exclusive statement to WWD. “Thirteen Lune’s mission is different: It puts the power in the hands of Black and brown consumers and founders to create generational wealth for business owners.”
Thirteen Lune’s platform is geared toward catering to beauty entrepreneurs of color, but emphasizes that the products it markets can be used by anyone.
Driving home that message of inclusivity is a principle that Thirteen Lune firmly stands on. The hope for this $1 million investment and upcoming seed round is to further push its goal to assist Black and brown beauty founders in getting more eyes on their businesses.
For more information about Thirteen Lune, visit its website.
