好莱坞辣妈创业获得新一轮风投

    The Honest Company日前宣布，公司新获2500万美元风险投资，其中现有投资者机构风险合伙公司（Institutional Venture Partners, IVP）领投。这家总部位于洛杉矶的公司生产品牌全天然/无毒尿布和其他婴幼儿产品, 联合创始人包括演艺明星杰西卡•阿尔芭和ShoeDazzle/LegalZoom的创始人布莱恩•李。

    其他投资者包括General Catalyst Partners、光速创投（Lightspeed Venture Partners）和资本公司ICONIQ Capital。

    我们用了一些时间与IVP的投资经理艾瑞克•廖探讨了这笔交易，他现任Honest Co.董事，与此项交易有接触。一些记录：

    1.这对于IVP而言是一项不寻常的投资。IVP作为成长期投资者，如今参与了Series A和B两轮投资。艾瑞克•廖说，主要是因为IVP公司在2011年对LegalZoom的投资与李建立起来的关系。“不错，这个业务略微超出我们的关注点，但这个团队非常吸引我们，”廖解释说。“布莱恩•李是一位成功的系列创业家，而且我们相信Honest的规模将超出他创立过的其他任何企业。”

    2.对于投资一家总裁是在职女演员的公司：“这是我们一开始探讨的问题，但现在已经不是什么问题了。相比传统创始人，她的时间投入确实不太一样，但她和（联合创始人）克里斯•葛文根也在加拿大为产品推出进行了一周的媒体宣传。归根结底，每个人都在进行多任务处理，而这里的时间投入确实得到了保证。”

    3.廖认为，这是Honest进行的最后一轮外部融资。他认为，这家公司接下来的两大执行挑战是拓展在实体店的覆盖率【它今年夏天以来已经开始在好市多（Cosco）进行测试】和国际扩张（不只是最近进入加拿大市场）。廖没有透露下一个市场在哪里，但他透露，英语国家市场，如英国或澳大利亚，可能最合逻辑。（财富中文网）

    The Honest Company today announced that it has raised $25 million in new venture capital funding, led by existing investor Institutional Venture Partners. This is the Los Angeles-based maker of branded all-natural/non-toxic diapers and other baby and kids products, whose co-founders include actress Jessica Alba and ShoeDazzle/LegalZoom founder Brian Lee.

    Other investors include General Catalyst Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners and ICONIQ Capital.

    We spent some time discussing the deal with IVP principal Eric Liaw, who is taking an Honest Co. board seat in connection with the transaction. A few notes:

    1. This is an unusual investment for IVP, in that it is a growth-stage investor that has now participated in both a Series A and Series B round. Liaw largely chalks that up to IVP's past relationship with Lee via a 2011 LegalZoom investment. "Yeah, it's a little outside our sweet spot, but we were very attracted to the team," Liaw explains. "Brian Lee is a successful serial entrepreneur, and we really believe Honest can be bigger than any of the other companies he's founded."

    2. On investing in a company whose president is a working actress: "It was something we talked about at the outset, but it hasn't been much of an issue. Her time is a bit more unorthodox than the typical founder, but just she and [fellow co-founder] Chris Gavigan were in Canada for a full week making a press tour announcing our launch. At the end of the day, everyone is multi-tasking, but the time commitment is certainly there."

    3. Liaw sees this as the company's final round of outside funding. He believes that its next two major execution challenges are expanding its in-store retail presence (it has been running a test in Cosco since the summer) and international expansion (beyond the recent Canada launch). No word yet on where the next market will be, although Liaw says that an English-speaking market -- such as the UK or Australia -- may make the most sense.