L Catterton's The Honest Company files for IPO

The Honest Company, the baby and beauty products brand founded by actress Jessica Alba and backed by L Catterton, officially filed for an initial public offering on Friday.

The Los Angeles-based company, founded in 2012, filed to sell $100 million worth of shares. It plans to list its shares on the Nasdaq under the symbol “HNST”.

The filling follows a strong sales year for the company, driven by a surge in demand for baby products, lotions and sanitizers due to the pandemic.

In the prospectus, the company shared that its revenue climbed 28 percent to $300 million for the year ended December 31, 2020, up from $235.6 million in 2019. Net loss for the period also narrowed to $14.5 million from $31.1 million a year earlier.

Funds from the filling are expected to go towards marketing and direct-to-consumer advertising, as well as product and business expansion plans.

Founded in 2012, The Honest Company is committed to full product disclosure, and clearly labelling and defining all ingredients on its packaging. The brand avoids more than 3,000 ingredients known to be harmful to health or the environment.

It is also the latest consumer brand to jump into the red hot IPO market. Since the beginning of the year, brands such as Poshmark, ThredUp, Dr Martens and The RealReal have launched IPOs, following their own surge in revenues.

L Catterton’s past and present portfolio of brands includes the likes of Elemis, Bliss, Il Makiage, Frederic Fekkai, Nutrafol, and Tula.

L Catterton's The Honest Company files for IPO

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