Unilever Ventures, the venture capital arm of Unilever Group, has partnered with True Beauty Ventures, an investment firm specializing in scaling beauty and wellness brands, to close the first institutional funding round for The 7 Virtues, marking the first investment by either investor in the fragrance category and underscoring their confidence in The 7 Virtues and the growing beauty and wellness sector.
Founded in Canada in 2010 by entrepreneur, author and activist Barb Stegemann, The 7 Virtues is a pioneer in the clean and sustainably sourced fragrance category, creating fragrances with a focus on sustainability and social impact. The brand offers a range of fragrances with a high concentration of 22% fragrance oil, designed to harness the power of scent for personal growth and social change, while promoting time justice in North America and globally.
The 7 Virtues fragrance collection includes popular scents such as Vanilla Woods and Coconut Sun, which are available on the brand’s website and at Sephora in 18 countries. These fragrances are sustainably sourced, cruelty-free, hypoallergenic and free of harmful chemicals, earning them Sephora’s Clean + Planet Positive seal. The brand’s impressive year-over-year sales growth of over 80% in FY2023 is outpacing the fragrance industry as a whole.
The joint investment from Unilever Ventures and True Beauty Ventures will enable The 7 Virtues to expand its presence with the opening of a New York office, grow its team to meet growing demand, and establish a “Maison” in Nova Scotia, Canada, where customers can create personalized fragrances. This partnership represents not only a business collaboration, but also a shared commitment to driving positive change in the fragrance industry and in the communities The 7 Virtues supports through its social enterprise.
