One of the most positive effects of the social media age, at least from a capitalistic standpoint, is that it’s democratized entrepreneurship, marketing and getting a new brand off the ground, even with relatively few resources. This is especially true in the beauty category, thanks to its fairly low initial overhead costs, huge margins and broad appeal — and because it easily lends itself to user-generated content and conversion-spurring virality.

But once a brand has established itself as an emerging player in the beauty and wellness market, getting to that next phase of growth can be a major hurdle. Of course, it takes capital to expand, but funds alone won’t make a beauty business successful. And it’s for that reason that True Beauty Ventures, an emerging growth fund created by Cristina Nuñez and Rich Gersten in 2020, emphasizes its role as a strategic partner for its brand portfolio.

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True Beauty Ventures’ 20 brand partners include Ami Colé, BeautyStat, Caliray, Cay Skin, Crown Affair, Dieux, Evolve Together, Feals, Iris & Romeo, K18, Kinship, Maude, Moon Juice, Sofie Pavitt Face, The 7 Virtues, The Maker, Vacation, Youthforia, Jupiter and one which has yet to be announced. 

The firm saw its first major exit in 2023: Hair-care brand K18, in which TBV had invested through its Fund I, was acquired by Unilever in a deal whose specific terms were not disclosed, but reportedly “returned almost 80% of Fund I’s capital,” per Nuñez.

This is the long-term goal for most independent beauty brands, but how do they get there, and transition from “emerging” to… having emerged? That’s the driving mission for Nuñez and Gersten, who merged their unique, complementary skill sets when they teamed up five years ago.

“What started as a partner/associate, senior/junior relationship has blossomed into a beautiful 50/50 partnership between the two of us,” says Gersten. “My background was as a very straightforward investor right out of business school. [Cristina’s] was a little bit more of a winding road, but that winding road has, I think, positioned us even better for where we are today.”

The pair had initially met in 2010 while working at Catterton Partners (now L Catterton); Gersten was a partner, Nuñez an associate. But Nuñez says her path was a bit “unconventional,” despite beginning her career in traditional finance and investment banking roles, with a focus on the consumer space. In search of something a bit more “creative,” she dipped her toes into the beauty world. During a stint at Laura Geller, doing portfolio company engagement, she “fell in love” with the industry. Next came a role as GM for Clark’s Botanicals, which was especially impactful. 

“It was my first time being in a sub-$5 million brand, feeling what it would be like to be a founder with all the things that get thrown your way, the fires you’re putting out while you’re also trying to think strategically and you’re balancing so many things,” Nuñez recalls. “So I developed a lot of empathy for small brand founders and what it takes.”

Gersten, a self-described “lifelong consumer private equity investor,” says he “accidentally” got into the beauty and personal-care business about 23 years ago, when he invested in Avalon Organics and Alba Botanica. “I never envisioned myself as a beauty investor, as a young male, but I kind of stumbled into it and then started disproportionately spending my time on it,” he says. “And the more time you spend in something, the smarter you’ll get at it.”

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TBV differs from standard VC funds in how small it’s willing to start: A $2 million investment might seem like a whole lot of capital for a new indie brand, but that number is well below the minimums at most larger investment institutions. This was a hurdle Gersten ran into repeatedly with otherwise impressive brands.

“I met [early on] with the founders of Youth to the People, Supergoop, Ilia and Ouai when they were small; they were looking for smart institutional money, but didn’t want to take more than $2 or $3 million. Most of the smart institutional money had minimum check sizes that were too big for them at the time. I said, ‘Boy, if we created something that would allow us to get into these brands before everybody else could, and just leverage our sector specialization and expertise, there seems to be something there.'” He took this idea to Nuñez, and True Beauty Ventures was born.

Beyond working with smaller companies and investments, TBV also sets itself apart because of the partners’ understanding of the beauty business. “We’re more ‘beauty people’ than investors at the end of the day,” says Gersten. “We don’t view ourselves as investors, we view ourselves as partners. I think because of our sector specialization and because of our experiences, we’re just able to help and add value in ways that a traditional early-stage fund could never. They just don’t have the experience to be able to do so.”

Nuñez echoes this point of view: “It’s not just being the capital and being easygoing and light and passive. That could work for some investors, but that’s not our objective, because if we’re not involved, and if we’re not sharing our experiences and helping founders avoid mistakes and being more hands-on, then it’s a loss for everybody,” she elaborates.

And beyond the partners themselves, TBV has also created its own cohort of indie beauty founders who come together to problem-solve, network and offer support to one another. On paper, they may be competing for consumer attention on the shelves of Sephora, but that’s not the vibe at all, according to the partners. 

“It’s really amazing, the power of collaboration that can exist in this industry,” says Nuñez. “In some cases, we have brands that are sitting on the same end cap at Sephora, so you would think they’re competitors. But the reality is, we make sure that we’re not investing in somebody who’s a direct competitor. There are different positionings, price points, target demos.” Whether partnering for cross-brand giftings, sharing high-level information or simply discussing the main challenges they’re facing, TBV’s brands seem to be more collaborative than competitive.

Gersten cites a recent example where TBV hosted a Zoom session for its brands to discuss strategies for navigating tariff uncertainty: “We had 13 of the 20 brands attend the Zoom, and True Beauty Ventures talked for about five of the 55 minutes. They just started just, ‘Hey, have you tried this? Have you heard about this? We’re looking at that.’ And all of a sudden you could see the magic happening and they’re all trying to help each other, all facing similar things, dealing with the same vendors in some cases. It’s a very powerful community,” he says.

When I point out how unique this seems, Gersten says the founders’ willingness to collaborate is surprisingly common in the indie beauty world at large.

“I’ve seen it my entire career investing in this industry… indie brands aren’t trying to take [market] share from each other. At the end of the day, they’re taking it from the legacy players,” he explains. In other words, they have a common enemy, so to speak: the big beauty conglomerates. “I’m sure the people at L’Oréal are not helping the people at Lauder, I can tell you that. But in the indie brand community, they definitely are.”

Nuñez and Gersten may be the money people, but they’re money people who Get It. They’re proud to be “the fund that founders want to partner with,” as Nuñez puts it. “The reputation that we have is so critical to making sure that we’re top of mind and highly recommended by founders as the partner of choice because that’s how we are successful.”

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