Sustainable deodorant firm passes the smell test with £5m funding round

A personal care start-up that created the UK’s first plastic-free refillable deodorant has closed a £5m round led by the founders of Innocent Drinks and LoveFilm.

London-based Wild Cosmetics, which aims to remove single-use-plastics and unnecessary chemicals from personal care goods, bagged the funding from a group of existing investors including JamJar Investment, led by the Innocent Drinks founders.

Co-founder Freddy Ward said the personal care market has a long way to go in reducing household landfill.

“Consumers are starting to really address the uncomfortable reality of single use plastic waste across their households. Less than 50% of products are recycled, compared with 80% of kitchen products,” he said.

“Fortunately though, the sector has shifted up a gear. We’re proud to be leading a category that has jumped seven-fold since we unveiled the first iteration of the product just shy of 30 months ago.

Ward claimed that Wild was challenging some of the “famous legacy personal care players to move and adapt quicker”.

Wild and co-founder Charlie Bowes-Lyon said they were now looking to fuel an expansion into Germany, France and the Netherlands with the funding.

The subscription-based firm recorded 400 per cent growth in 2021, selling 2.5 million of its line of natural compostable deodorants.