PARIS, September 05, 2024–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Paris-based BRANDED, a digital consumer products platform, and Heyday, a pioneer in digital branding, have entered into an agreement for BRANDED to acquire Heyday, and form a new company, Essor. With over 1 billion social media views in 2023, hundreds of best-selling books, approximately $400 million in annual revenue and substantial profitability, Essor is an exceptional portfolio of fast-growing brands such as Boka, Puracy, ZitSticka, FreshCap, OTOTO, Viking Revolution and Iron Flask. These brands are sold worldwide on eCommerce marketplaces, through their own sites and at major retailers such as Target, Walmart and CVS.
The acquisition of Heyday not only enriches Essor’s portfolio with promising, high-growth brands, but also brings a distribution network across the United States as well as an innovative technology platform. Indeed, Heyday has invested tens of millions of dollars to develop its technology and optimize its operations, by putting Artificial Intelligence and Data Science at the heart of marketing, sales and logistics decisions.
Essor will deploy its platform capabilities to develop and transform its digital brands into consumer, omnichannel and global brands. For example, since its acquisition in 2022, the turnover of Boka, the premium oral care brand, has increased sixfold and its toothpaste has become the number 1 seller on Amazon in the United States. Similarly, Puracy, acquired in 2021, has doubled its presence in the natural cleaning products market by selling more than 20 million products in the United States to millions of families.
Essor will be led from Paris by Pierre Poignant, co-founder and CEO of BRANDED, who will serve as CEO of Essor, Sebastian Rymarz, co-founder and CEO of Heyday, who will assume the role of President, and Ben Kaminski, co-founder of BRANDED, who will take on the role of Chairman.
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“Essor perfectly reflects our vision of elevating brands to new heights and propelling them into a future filled with endless possibilities,” said Pierre Poignant. “This acquisition represents an important step in our journey to become the leading digital consumer products company. By combining our resources and expertise, we are uniquely positioned to take brands to new heights, delivering unparalleled value to our customers and partners.”
“Teaming up with BRANDED strengthens our platform and investment capabilities, putting us in a prime position to take advantage of the current wave of digital brand concentration post-COVID,” said Rymarz.
As part of this transaction, Essor has secured a new equity investment and established a new credit line, strengthening its financial strength and positioning the company as one of the best capitalized players in the sector. The additional capital will support Essor’s growth strategy, particularly through strategic acquisitions.
“We are excited to bring together the complementary strengths of BRANDED and Heyday,” said Ben Kaminski. “The combination of Heyday’s technology platform and distribution networks combined with BRANDED’s operational excellence in new product development and international brand expansion provides a strong competitive advantage that will multiply the value we can create for our brands and consumers.”
The Raine Group acted as exclusive financial advisor to Heyday in connection with the transaction.
For more information, visit https://www.goessor.com/
About Essor
Essor, where brands soar. Essor acquires emerging digital brands and grows them into global, omnichannel brands that consumers love. As a next-generation consumer products platform, we leverage technology, channel expertise and digital marketing to accelerate the growth of our portfolio brands. Essor’s portfolio today includes a broad range of wellness and beauty consumer brands such as Boka, ZitSticka, Puracy, OTOTO Design, FreshCap, Iron Flask, Fullstar, NumNum, Key Nutrients and Viking Revolution, sold on Amazon, direct-to-consumer channels and through national retailers such as Target, CVS and Walmart. Essor and its predecessors have raised over $400 million from investors including The Raine Group, Premji Invest, Target Global, C4 Ventures, Declaration Partners, BlackRock, Victory Park Capital, General Catalyst, and Khosla Ventures. Essor was formed in August 2024 following BRANDED’s acquisition of Heyday. BRANDED was founded in September 2020 by Pierre Poignant, Ben Kaminski, and Alexis Lanternier. Heyday was founded in August 2020 by Sebastian Rymarz and Adam Gerchen.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240905053757/fr/
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