UK men’s shaving supplier Cornerstone secures new £3.5m round of investment
by Startacus Admin
British Shaving Pioneer Cornerstone secures further £3.5 million investment and adds e-commerce veteran to its board.
We'd like to think we can spot and scout startup talent here at Startacus HQ.
Back in 2014, we interviewed young entrepreneur Oliver Bridge who had just launched Cornerstone, a subscription service offering a flexible, regular delivery of razor blades and men's shaving supplies.
Well, lots has happened for Oliver and Cornerstone over the last three years and we are delighted to announce that they have just completed a new £3.5m round of investment led by private equity firm Calculus Capital, with e-commerce veteran William Reeve (previously on the boards of Graze, Lovefilm, Zoopla & Paddy Power) joining as a board advisor.
Cornerstone – provide quality British skin care products and German engineered razors to 140,000 customers around the UK via an online subscription service – and with their latest £3.5m round of investment have now raised £8m since launch in 2014.
The round, led by UK growth investor Calculus Capital, sees Cornerstone add to its impressive list of experienced angel investors that already includes: Quidco CEO Andy Oldham, ex-Jack Wills Chairman Will Hobhouse, Charles Tyrwhitt Chairman Nick Wheeler and ex-President of Levi Jeans Joe Middleton.
Cornerstone was born out of young entrepreneur Oliver Bridge’s personal frustrations with the discomfort and expensive nature of wet shaving – “I'd always hated shaving - it was painful, cost a fortune, and I hated shopping for toiletries. Finally, one day I just thought - there has to be a better way to do this, and I set about finding a way to make it combine great products with the convenience of a subscription service”.
The Cornerstone journey is pretty inspiring.
Oliver launched Cornerstone in June 2014 with £10,000 of his own savings and a £5,000 Startup loan. Its customer 
base has grown from 0 to 140,000 subscribers and the team has expanded to 27 members of staff at Cornerstone’s London HQ. To top it all off, Cornerstone won ‘Best Razor’ in both 2015 and 2016 from Shortlist and AskMen and has twice won the publicly voted ‘People’s Champion’ award at the annual Startups Awards. Oliver was also selected as a Forbes 30 Under 30 in late 2016.
The firm will be broadening its range of products across the remainder of 2017, moving into new toiletries categories such as shampoo and dental care, in a move described by Oliver Bridge as ‘an all-out assault on the men’s aisle at Boots – we don’t think men should have to shop for, or even think about shopping for toiletries – we’re here to fix that’.
Private equity firm Calculus Capital, which is leading the latest investment round in Cornerstone, has a strong track record of backing growing British businesses. Calculus has 18 years’ experience in SME investing, supporting dynamic companies across a diverse range of sectors, from sports and leisure to clean-tech, hosted software and healthcare.
Subscribe to our newsletter
If you would like to receive our startup themed newsletter, full of the latest startup opportunities, events, news, stories, tips and advice, then sign up here.
.jpg)
How to select your best ideas and take them forward - Chris Thomason, Founder of Ingenious Growth shares 5 tips to help you do just that.
Early stage VC fund Anamcara led by Female Solo GP Closes $10.6M Seed Fund to Invest in Founders Building Defining B2B Software Companies
Want to ensure your startup runs smoothly? Hamid Bagherzadeh, Legal expert and Co-Founder of LegaMart shares insights on the legal contracts that will help you do just that.
Koala, the innovative travel insurtech startup, secures investment to fuel its growth in Europe, expand its team and build additional travel protections.
The best early stage tech startups from across the UK revealed in Tech Nation’s final Rising Stars competition.
Over 100 organisations come together via The Micro Business Alliance to help provide a voice for the UK's startups, micro businesses and small businesses.
The lowdown on London-based hearing wellness startup Mumbli and its mission to help businesses provide inclusive spaces for all hearing abilities and preferences.
Tech Nation calls for tangible support to secure capital, talent, growth and exits needed to accelerate the growth of UK tech in decade ahead.
Glasgow-based This is Milk seeks investment for Neve Learning, its cloud-based Ed-Tech platform that has inclusivity and accessibility at its core.
.jpg)
With the UK facing a clear digital skills gap, Amy Caton, Digital Talent and Impact Senior Manager at BT Group shares some insights on what businesses should do to close that divide.
Published on: 6th August 2017
If you would like to enable commenting via your Startacus account, please enable Disqus functionality in your Account Settings.
- Anamcara launches $10.6M seed fund to back new wave of business tech 30th Mar 2023 Early stage VC fund Anamcara led by Female Solo GP Closes $10.6M Seed Fund to Invest in Founders Building Defining B2B Software Companies
- Travel insurtech Koala raises €2m to accelerate its growth 29th Mar 2023 Koala, the innovative travel insurtech startup, secures investment to fuel its growth in Europe, expand its team and build additional travel protections.
- Tech Nation announces the 10 winners of its latest Rising Stars competition 29th Mar 2023 The best early stage tech startups from across the UK revealed in Tech Nation’s final Rising Stars competition.
- Micro Business Alliance launches to represent 75% of the UK’s businesses 28th Mar 2023 Over 100 organisations come together via The Micro Business Alliance to help provide a voice for the UK's startups, micro businesses and small businesses.
