Birchbox acquired by women's health science start-up FemTec Health

By

Robin Driver

Published
Oct 31, 2021

Subscription box pioneer Birchbox has been acquired by Houston, Texas-based women’s health science and beauty start-up FemTec Health, which uses data to offer customers personalized holistic healthcare.

 
Under its new owners, Birchbox, which launched as a beauty subscription box service in 2010, will now pivot towards a focus on skin and healthcare products. To support this shift, the company will employ FemTec’s BiomeAI platform, which uses AI and deep machine learning to transform consumer, genetic, microbiome and biometric data into personalized customer journeys.
 
According to Forbes, FemTec’s acquisition of Birchbox was valued at $45 million.

Led by executive chairman and interim CEO Dr. Kimon Angelides, who founded the company in May 2020 before publicly launching it this October, FemTec’s other top executives include chief scientific officer Dr. Kimberly Capone, who previously worked with Johnson & Johnson, and chief operating officer Dr. Laura Clapper, whose prior experience includes stints at Cigna and CVS-Aetna.
 
Boasting a list of investors including Longmont Capital, Ithaca LifeSciences, Unilever Ventures, Shiseido, e.Ventures, Viking Global, and Trinity Capital, the company has raised more than $38 million in funding to date.
 
Alongside Birchbox, the start-up also announced that it has acquired online beauty store Mira Beauty and Liquid Grids, a social marketing platform focused on the healthcare industry.
 
“Our first acquisitions within women's health and beauty are key to our mission to revolutionize the women's healthcare and beauty industry. Women deserve a comprehensive, all encompassing model designed specifically for them,” said Angelides in a release. “The starting point is to really understand a woman's healthcare needs and then apply smart technology like AI and predictive analytics to translate the data into actionable outcomes.”
 
The launch of FemTec taps into wider trends in the wellness industry, where there is growing interest in businesses offering women data-driven personalized healthcare solutions. For example, Modern Age, a wellness platform focused on aging, recently announced that it had closed a $27 million Series A funding round.