Jessica Alba’s eCom Venture Gearing Up For IPO? Share Market Debut of ‘Honest’ Reportedly Assisted By Goldman Sachs And Morgan Stanley [Video]
Jessica Alba’s eCommerce venture is reportedly getting ready for an IPO. Honest Company, which sells baby products online, is being assisted by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley for its share market debut.
Honest Company, an online shopping startup that was co-founded by actress Jessica Alba, is gearing up for an IPO, reports Bloomberg. The report adds that Alba’s venture is being helped by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to ensure the IPO debut goes smoothly. The company already has an impressive valuation that’s nearing $2 billion, despite being launched only a few years ago. The company has raised venture capital on a few occasions. The IPO should help the company expand significantly not just by size and presence, but also enable it to bring a lot more products to the table. Despite the numerous indications about the impending IPO, spokespeople for Honest Co. and the investment banks have declined to comment, reports Reuters.
Honest was co-founded by Hollywood actress and mother Jessica Alba in 2011. Entrepreneur Brian Lee is the other co-founder. Though conceptualized and set up in 2011, the company began by selling diapers, and then baby powder and body wash a year later in 2012. The expanded company now sells baby products, beauty products, soaps and detergents along with other products that are primarily focused on baby care. Though Honest is primarily focused on online sales, the company does have a physical presence in multi-brand specialty departmental stores like Target, Nordstrom and Whole Foods.
Celebrating 4 yrs @Honest ??? pic.twitter.com/vOEHw7eRvT
— Jessica Alba (@jessicaalba) January 22, 2016
Honest Co. was started after Jessica Alba used a name brand baby detergent and a rash broke out on her skin. As a concerned parent, Alba read the labels which assured her the product was “mild;” however, the rash was anything but. Unlike other parents who merely dump the brand and move on, Alba decided to create a company, which would offer a “trustworthy lifestyle brand” that creates products that are non-toxic, affordable and easy to find. Having suffered with asthma and other illnesses as a child, Alba knew a lot needed to be done. However, Alba has indicated that she has a tough personality, which can be reflected in the rapid progress of the company and its acceptance among new parents.
Mommas & dads, I shared my baby gear picks (including these @honest goodies!) w/ @nordstrom: https://t.co/tO7dsS4Ufq pic.twitter.com/LAkPJxmWAq
— Jessica Alba (@jessicaalba) January 20, 2016
Honest Co. is valued at roughly $1.7 billion thanks to a hefty round of funding over the summer that boosted the startup’s value by more than 50 percent over the previous year, reports Market Watch. According to the regulatory filings, the investment round allowed Alba’s Honest Co. to raise about a $100 million, which strongly indicates that investors aren’t just drawn by the celebrity appeal of Jessica Alba, but are convinced about the potential of the company. This same confidence could tremendously help the company when its IPO debuts.
Since neither of the companies said to be involved with the IPO are willing to comment, it is not possible to know when Honest Co. might launch its IPO or under what ticker the company might trade under. However, Honest Co. will undoubtedly want to wait some time for the investor confidence to rise in the share market after the turmoil stock markets across the world went through owing to extensively poor performance by China.
Activity in the IPO market has come to a grinding halt since the start of this year. After China’s stock market crashed, it has had deep repercussions across the world. Many companies have hastily postponed their IPO plans or scrapped them entirely after evaluating the gloomy outlook. Such a dreary situation is an eerie reminder of September 2011 when the Eurozone crisis was at its peak.
Interestingly, there have been persistent indicators that Jessica Alba’s Honest Co. has been getting ready to go public since late 2014. However, there has been no progress on that front by the company, which is seemingly quite content to raise money through venture capital.
[Photo by Gary Miller/Getty Images]
