With $25 Million, Billie Continues to Disrupt the Shaving Industry
Billie launched in 2018 as a female-focused, subscription-based, anti-Pink Tax company that sends you shaving supplies for $9 in a beautifully packaged starter kit. Today, Billie announced their $25M Series A led by Goldman Sachs Private Capital Investing Group.
Female Founders Fund recently sat down with co-founder Georgina Gooley to learn a little more about her inspiration to start Billie, the brand’s journey to date, and what’s on the horizon.
Before starting Billie, you were in the agency world, specifically at W&K. What is the story behind your inspiration in starting Billie?
Razors are notoriously expensive for everyone but even more so when you’re woman. For years, I was shaving with men’s razors because I knew women’s razors were subject to the ridiculous ‘pink tax.’ While there were a number of startups in the grooming space bringing better pricing to men’s shaving products, that same innovation didn’t exist for women.
When I met my co-founder, Jason Bravman, through a mutual friend it turned out we had both been thinking about the shaving category — specifically, why it was so focused on the male customer and why women were largely being ignored. It soon became clear to us that women were indeed being underserved and that there was a real gap to address. We decided we could build something really great for women, so I left my job to start Billie.
The razor industry for women has had no disruption for years and is dominated by brands like Gillette. How did you think about innovation?
When we started building Billie, it was clear that we shouldn’t be taking direction from an industry that had been stagnant for decades, but rather from our future customers: women. We conducted endless surveys, hosted focus groups and mined social media comments to gain insights about what women found particularly frustrating about their shaving routine. Through this research, we learned that razor blades that weren’t completely surrounded in soap often caused razor burn, that the suction cups on razor holders always fell down in the shower and that women were livid at the fact that women’s razors were more expensive than men’s razor. These insights quickly gave us an action plan for innovation.
In terms of brand voice, Billie has a very distinct POV around women’s shaving. What shaped this narrative?
Unlike other women’s shaving brands, we built Billie to be a brand for all of womankind, not just women who shave; that meant representing all women — hairy, smooth and everything in between. For over 100 years, the shaving industry has shamed women about their body hair by refusing to show it exists and advocating that the best version of yourself is hairless.
When we started Billie, we knew we couldn’t just sell a better product at a better price — we had to reinvent the category’s relationship with women. No one should tell women where, when, or how they should shave — especially not a razor brand.
You are now twelve months post launch. From a marketing point of view, what has worked best for Billie? What channel do you focus on for customer engagement?
When Billie launched Project Body Hair, we became the first women’s razor company in over 100 years, to acknowledge that women have body hair and suggest that shaving your hair is a choice, not an expectation. Millions of women around the world (over 22 million so far) have viewed, shared, commented and supported our campaign. We doubled our sales the week of the campaign’s launch and sold out of razors shortly after.
We’ve seen great success engaging customers on social media but what’s really moved the needle for us is creating content that truly resonates with our customer base.
How have customers responded to the brand? Any fun anecdotes?
We’ve been fortunate that Billie has resonated with so many women in such a short period of time — seeing customers love our product or what we stand for has been the most gratifying aspect of building the company. A special shout out to one customer who loves our razors so much, she was “sad to run out of places to shave.”
As you think about scaling the company, what is on the horizon? New product launches? New verticals?
We’re focused on continuing to fuel growth, which includes plans to expand our product line and bring more innovation to the women’s personal care market.
Where do you see the biggest opportunity in building out Billie’s product offering and taking advantage of technology to build a great customer experience?
There is a tremendous opportunity in this category to deliver premium products that are both healthy and effective, at fair prices so women can actually afford to adopt them into their everyday routines. We’re building our business model around our customers’ lifestyle and needs. Our goal is to bring innovation and fair pricing to the women’s personal care market.
What is your vision for Billie five years from now?
We want Billie to be a household name — if you peek into your girlfriend’s shower or bathroom cabinet, we hope to see a Billie product in there!
Have to ask, what is your favorite Billie razor color?
Cool Blue — it’s classic.