Jake Paul‘s W has won some more cash.
The recently launched men’s body care brand — sold exclusively at Walmart stores, Walmart.com and GetW.com — has raised $14 million to-date in seed and Series A funding led by Shrug Capital and Anti Fund, a venture capital firm founded by Paul with Geoffrey Woo. Prominent co-investors include Range Group, 305 Ventures, Uphonest Capital, Quiet Capital and Palm Tree Crew while individual investors include Celsius’ CEO John Fieldly, Fanatic’s CEO Michael Rubin, rapper Lil Durk, tennis stars Nick Kyrgios and Naomi Osaka and married couple Paris Hilton and Carter Reum. Equity holders announced to-date include MMA champion Sean O’Malley and rapper Rubi Rose.
According to W, the brand, which launched in June, has broken out in Walmart’s “emerging brands” by earning seven-figures in sales, enough to earn distinction as the best launch of the category. It is now on track to surpass $50 million in sales by the end of its first year. W, now valued at north of $150 million, confirms it will use the capital for SKU and retailer expansion.
“It’s incredibly important to me that W fill the void that’s been apparent in the men’s personal care category for decades,” said Paul, who co-founded W with Woo and Woodie Hillyard and invested his own cash in doing so. “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.”
Said Shrug Capital managing partner Moshe Lifschitz: “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.” Shrug Capital has a portfolio in the consumer space that includes MrBeast’s Feastables and Liquid Death. The firm was founded in 2018 and is led by Niv Dror and Lifschitz.
W launched with three products — body wash, deodorant and body spray — with two more to come with bars of soap and two-in-one shampoo. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Paul revealed his ambitions were “to take over the whole bathroom — toothpaste, towels and who knows, we might even do toilet paper one day.”
He added: “We want to be a brand that just has cool products. We can do streetwear clothing, you can put W on a backpack. The logo looks cool for skateboarders to have on their skateboards. We see this as this cultural brand and something that the audience can connect to on a bigger level beyond just a product, it’s a way of life. I think that really comes through in the brand. Once you see the content that we will put out, the ethos and that spirit of the brand will really come alive.”