Living Proof Secures $30 Million to Accelerate Market Expansion, Support New Growth Areas

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. --(Business Wire)--

Living Proof, the award-winning, technology-based beauty company, today announced the closing of a $30 million financing that will accelerate market expansion of its award winning hair care products, and support the development and commercialization of additional beauty technologies. The financing was supported by new institutional investors including Leerink Swann, and joined by existing investor and company founder Polaris Partners, as well as the Pohlad (News - Alert) Family Capital Fund.

Living Proof has launched its first national marketing campaign with co-owner and hair care spokesperson Jennifer Aniston. (Photo: Business Wire)

"We are extremely well-positioned for the next phase of our rapid growth," said Living Proof CEO Jill Beraud. "The company is expanding market presence with existing, highly-innovative products, and preparing for the commercialization of new beauty technologies. Living Proof is well on its way toward the goal of becoming one of the most admired and trusted consumer products companies."

Living Proof recently launched its first national marketing campaign with actress and entrepreneur Jennifer Aniston, a company co-owner and hair product spokesperson. The campaign, shot by Mario Sorrenti and created by Badger & Winters, promotes the power of Living Proof science to make every day a good hair day. The campaign began appearing in major fashion, beauty and lifestyle publications this week.

Living Proof co-founder and board chairman Jon Flint, who is also co-founder and general partner at Polaris Partners, stated, "In addition to accelerating market penetration, this major financing will give us the fuel we need to continue our origial vision: bringing together some of the most brilliant scientists in medicine to create proprietary beauty products that truly work."

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Living Proof hair care products can be found nationwide at top salons, Sephora, Ulta, Nordstrom, QVC and at Livingproof.com. Internationally, Living Proof products can be found at Space NK in the United Kingdom and Mecca in Australia and New Zealand.

About Living Proof

Living Proof was founded by Jon Flint and Amir Nashat of Polaris Partners and Dr. Robert Langer, Institute Professor of MIT (News - Alert), who earlier this month was awarded the 2013 Presidential Medal of Technology and Innovation by President Obama. As the founding scientist of Living Proof, Dr. Langer analyzed existing beauty products to discover an industry reliant upon outdated technologies and similar ingredients that only yield insufficient results. By using technologies from outside the beauty industry, originating from MIT, Dr. Langer and the Living proof scientific team were able to disrupt the status quo of the beauty industry and deliver high-performance, truly innovative solutions such as No Frizz, the biggest breakthrough in anti-frizz technology in 30 years. Since then, the combination of beauty and brains has been a winning formula: Living Proof has garnered over 34 awards, thirteen utility patents and, most recently, added Jennifer Aniston as a co-owner and hair care spokesperson, visit www.livingproof.com.

About Leerink Swann

Leerink Swann LLC acted as exclusive placement agent for this transaction.

Founded in 1995, Leerink Swann is recognized as a leading healthcare investment bank, whose deep domain knowledge provides its clients with unique insights and perspectives that enable them to make well-informed business and investment decisions. Leerink Swann offers investment banking, merger and acquisition services, institutional sales and trading, equity research, and consulting services to its clients. Leerink Swann is a member of FINRA/SIPC. For more information, visit www.leerink.com.

About Polaris Partners

We are multistage investors with proven experience in the Technology, Healthcare and Consumer sectors. Our partnership invests across all company lifecycle stages, and the firm is the lead or co-lead investor in virtually all of our portfolio companies. Many of our companies have achieved great success. In 2012 alone, ten of our companies realized important partnership acquisitions, including deCODE Genetics (acquired by Amgen); DigiCert (acquired by TA Associates); Avila Therapeutics (acquired by Celegene); Ascend Health Corporation (acquired by Universal Health Services); and Mark Monitor (acquired by Thomson Reuters (News - Alert)). Our current portfolio includes notable companies such as Adimab, AeroShot, Art.com, Athletes Performance, Cerulean, Confluence, Focus Financial, Imprivata, JibJab, LegalZoom, ShoeDazzle, Vets First Choice, and WikiCell Designs. For more information on the firm, its mission and its portfolio companies visit www.polarispartners.com.