Monday, 8th August 2011, 10:57am

Lovelula.com and Zuneta.com raise growth equity to expand into Europe and North America

LoveLula and Zuneta, the online beauty retailers for Natural and Luxury brands respectively, today announce a merger and growth equity investment from Forward Venture Partners. The move will see new company Zulu Beauty bring together two award winning female entrepreneurs who have enjoyed success in both the luxury and organic & natural beauty markets. Founders Claire Braithwaite and Zu Rafalat are joined on the board by Paul Fisher from Forward Venture Partners.

The new group, Zulu Beauty, will bring together a range of web brands encompassing content and web boutiques. LoveLula and Zuneta are the first; both have very distinctive positioning amongst their customer base and have significant scope to widen the range of brands. The two companies will maintain highly personalised customer relationships and continue to work hand in hand with new and existing brands to develop their markets.

As well as demonstrating significant year on year growth and repeat customer base, both companies have established an enviable strength of customer relationship.

With the added investment from Forward Venture Partners the new company will expand its operations across Europe, continue to invest in customer service and work with new brands that need an online partner.

“I am delighted to have joined forces with Zu and am very excited about our vision for the company. With our combined experience of beauty and online retail we are well placed to create an online beauty group that curates sites customers love coming back to. Forward Venture Partners bring both a rare entrepreneurial pedigree and technical credentials and we are excited about their strategic involvement in accelerating the business’ growth.” Claire Braithwaite, Lovelula.com

“It’s tremendously flattering to have been singled out by investors because of Zuneta’s unique market position. Our growth in the last two and a half years since launch has been beyond expectations and we know from our brands they see significant potential in online beauty. I’m very excited about working with Claire and utilising our complimentary skills to accomplish something truly special. Our ambitions are huge – but, from what we’ve seen so far, entirely achievable”. Zu Rafalat, Zuneta.com

“We believe the future of ecommerce is about emotional attachment with customers: created by offering content, customer dialogue and retail all under one brand. We believe Claire and Zu are unmatched in Europe for their knowledge of both beauty and online retail, and their dedication to creating a new kind of shopping experience for beauty consumers. We’re proud to have proactively brought them together and crafted a deal that works for all, with both primary and second investment.” Paul Fisher, Forward Venture Partners

About Zuneta
Zuneta was started in 2008 by Zu Rafalat straight out of a successful career launching new cosmetics brands for beauty giant L’Oreal in New York, London and Paris. Zu was recently nominated as a business icon in the Top 35 Under 35 in Management Today. Zuneta dominates the luxury end of the cosmetics market, having carefully curated a range of high end and emerging brands.

About Love Lula
Lovelula is Europe’s leading apothecary for organic and natural beauty brands. The business was started by Claire Braithwaite, who after a career in the City, launched LoveLula.com in 2006 based on her passion for natural formulations. Lovelula provides customers with quality and effective brands with a responsible attitude towards ingredients - all products are free from parabens, artificial fragrance, sls and phthalates and they're also cruelty free. The business today stocks over 2000 products from 75 brands and serves customers in more than 50 territories.

About Zulu Beauty
Zulu Beauty is the holding company for Zuneta and Lovelula and encompasses both content and web boutiques. Together the companies stock over 100 brands serving more than 50 territories and experience high customer loyalty. The LoveLula and Zuneta stores both enjoy very distinctive positioning amongst their customer base and are extremely well placed to dominate the online beauty scene whilst maintaining their unique appeal.

About Forward Venture Partners
Forward Venture Partners is a venture capital and growth investor investing across digital media publishing and ecommerce. The team is small, decisive and entrepreneurial and brings first hand expertise in acquiring, converting and monetising web audiences. Forward Venture Partners invests for pure financial return, but is able to bring expertise and insight from its sole Limited Partner Forward Internet Group.