W, the men’s personal care brand launched by Jake Paul, announced today it has raised a Series A led by Shrug Capital. With $14 million in funding to date, including seed financing and incubation from Anti Fund, the company is now valued at more than a $150 million valuation. The co-investors include Range Group, 305 Ventures, Uphonest Capital, Quiet Capital, and Palm Tree Crew, with participation from individuals including Celsius’ CEO John Fieldly, Fanatic’s CEO Michael Rubin, Lil Durk, Nick Kyrgios, Naomi Osaka, and Carter Reum and Paris Hilton.
Launched last month exclusively at Walmart, W is now already breaking records as the retailer’s best launch in its Emerging Brands category history, surpassing seven figures in sales and on track to hit north of $50 million in sales by the end of its first year. And W will use the funding to support both SKU and retailer expansion as the company continues on its mission to reinvigorate the men’s personal care aisle through its better-for-you products at a great value.
W has also assembled an all-star team of W Co-Owners. The equity holders announced to-date include MMA champion and ESPN’s 2024 Best UFC Fighter recipient Sean O’Malley and hip-hop megastar Rubi Rose, with more Co-owners to be announced soon. The goal of the Co-Owners is to combine people Paul admires who represent hard work and do things differently across their unique expertise domains.
KEY QUOTES:
“It’s incredibly important to me that W fill the void that’s been apparent in the men’s personal care category for decades. Everything W does is different — from driving record sales in under a month to our forward-thinking approach to creator partnerships. Our funding to date reflects our investors’ confidence in the immense opportunity we have to build a new type of legacy brand in unique and unexpected ways. I invested my own capital into this company along with my partner and Co-Founder Geoffrey Woo because we strongly believe in W’s runway to achieve a massive and successful future.”
– Jake Paul, Founder of W
“The industry is riddled with legacy players that are taking antiquated approaches and in turn are losing market and mindshare. When we think about brands that will shape the next generation of household brands, W has all the characteristics. We are extremely excited to partner with Jake, Woodie, and Geoff and look forward to the many wins to come.”
– Moshe Lifschitz, Shrug Capital’s Managing Partner
“We realized the typical direct-to-consumer playbook wasn’t right for us and instead decided to launch retail-first with Walmart, America’s biggest retailer. I’m extremely excited to see that consumers are reacting so positively to W since our launch just last month. We’re looking forward to expanding our consumer touchpoints and breaking records as one of the biggest CPG brands to hit the market.”
– W’s CEO and Co-Founder Woodie Hillyard
