L Catterton Bets On Menopause Care With The Acquisition Of Naomi Watts’ Brand Stripes

L Catterton has acquired Stripes, the menopause care brand actress Naomi Watts developed with biotechnology company Amyris, for an undisclosed price. 

The acquisition continues LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton-backed private equity firm L Catterton’s active streak in beauty and wellness. Preceding the transaction, it secured a majority stake in Kiko Milano, participated in Squared Circles’ series A funding round, invested in Eighth Day, poured series C funding into GlossGenius and obtained Thorne HealthTech. 

Fueled by L Catterton’s resources, Stripes is expected to scale nationally and internationally via its website, Amazon and QVC. Later this year, 55-year-old Watts will appear on QVC as the shopping network leans into consumers in their 50s and beyond. Stripes has already expanded its team and is slated for further team expansion. It’s added Cara Kamenev, former VP of brand engagement at L’Oréal Paris, as president and Debra Perelman, former CEO of Revlon, as executive chair. 

Stripes will ramp up new product development, too, starting in the sleep support category. Its latest launch is The Dream Date, a supplement formulated with melatonin, magnesium and red clover to help users fall and stay asleep. According to Kamenev, The Dream Date is clinically proven to address “key symptoms accompanying perimenopause and menopause. This new product was created for women experiencing sleep disturbances due to hormonal changes.” 

Whitney Casey, a partner at L Catterton, informed the publication Fast Company that the private equity firm had been scouring the market for a brand in the women’s health market, which is valued at over $44 billion, and explored two dozen prior to settling on Stripes. Although L Catterton isn’t generally drawn to celebrity brands, Watts’ story of being caught off guard by entering menopause at the age of 36 years old and drive to open up the menopause conversation was attractive to it.

“She brought authenticity to the conversation,” Casey told Fast Company. “She had struggled through the journey herself, and was like all the other women searching for answers but finding a morass on the internet.”

Stripes’ road to L Catterton has been bumpy. Watts was introduced to Amyris through Onda Beauty, a clean beauty retailer she co-founded that the company acquired in 2022. The same year as the acquisition, Stripes was launched under the Amyris umbrella. It didn’t stay there for long.

In August 2023, Amyris filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It’s since emerged from bankruptcy, but only after it offloaded or halted its beauty and wellness brands, including Stripes. In December last year, Sakana LLC, an investment vehicle formed by Watts to take over Stripes, acquired the brand.

Stripes made its debut at Amyris with an 11-product range spanning face, hair, body and vaginal wellness topical products and supplements priced from $40 to $85. It was sold on its site as well as at Onda Beauty and Amazon. Shortly before Amyris plunged into bankruptcy, Stripes premiered on Sephora’s dot-com platform in May 2023. Eight of its products are still available on the beauty specialty retailer’s site. 

Stripes isn’t the only previous Amyris brand to embark on a new chapter. In October 2023, Onda Beauty co-founder Larissa Thomson reopened the retailer in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood. In February, it was revealed Francisco Costa is relaunching his body care brand, Costa Brazil, after Amyris shuttered it. JVN, the haircare brand connected to “Queer Eye” star and hairstylist Jonathan Van Ness, and baby brand Pipette, both formerly Amyris properties, are now under the auspices of private equity firm Windsong Global-owned Belle Brands. 

Investors and entrepreneurs have circled the menopause space, a subcategory of women’s health, because it’s a massive and long underserved. Every woman who makes it well into middle age will experience menopause. Per market research firm Grand View Research, the menopause space was valued at $17 billion globally last year and is projected to advance at a compound annual growth rate of 5.4% over the next six years.

The massive size of the menopause opportunity—at a recent panel discussion, Athena Dao founder Laura Minquini shared that women are willing to spend about $60,000 each towards menopause products to help mitigate symptoms—hasn’t made it easy, and a number of menopause brands have sputtered. In 2022, Stacy London, stylist and co-host of former reality makeover show “What Not To Wear,” shuttered menopause care brand State Of. Pause Well Aging, an early mover in the space, closed earlier this year.

Also this year, supplement specialist Wile was scooped up by brand holding company Nameless CPG for less than favorable terms after pulling in $3 million in funding, and Modern Age closed its doors. The women-focused longevity and wellness clinic had raised $33 million.