While Birchbox may have risen to popularity thanks to its subscription service of beauty samples, which emphasizes product discovery, the company is changing its focus to include the healthcare space at large as it moves under startup FemTec Health.
The beauty company was acquired by FemTec Health, a women’s health sciences and beauty company, for upwards of $45 million.
With the acquisition, Birchbox will relaunch later this year with a new focus on personalized skin and healthcare products, a shift from its original focus on product discovery through beauty samples. Katia Beauchamp, founder and CEO of Birchbox, will become a strategic adviser at the company and sell her remaining stake in the company.
FemTec Health was founded in May last year and just launched publicly this month, with the aim of transforming “the total healthcare experience for women” using tech and data. For Birchbox, that means a broader assortment of products than its core offering and an emphasis on personalization. According to Beauchamp, the vision is to include things like topical beauty and ingestible beauty, as well as other potential links to wellness, while still allowing for a product discovery experience.
The subscription model “will continue to be a core aspect of Birchbox,” Beauchamp said, but the companies are “reimagining” what type of products are included in the subscription.
Whether that means using data to pair customers with existing products or design its own products for customers is not set in stone yet. FemTec Chief Scientific Officer Kim Capone responded that “the world is our oyster” in regards to those options, though FemTec is currently developing its own line of wellness and personal care products that will come out next year. Those items will “coordinate very nicely with the acquisitions, in particular with Birchbox,” Capone said.
“We’re also building another direct-to-consumer brand that’s very much focused on this healthcare offering … The idea is to bring your healthcare …….