Our Investment in Ceremonia

One of the things that get us excited at Black Jays is meeting Founders who just seem born to run the business they are starting. When we first met Babba Rivera (virtually) in the Fall of 2020, we knew instantly she fit the bill. The problem? Babba had just closed a pre-seed round that was oversubscribed. We agreed to stay in touch and I offered to be helpful to her between then and her next fundraise. In the meantime, we began researching the personal care sector and realized a few things:

• While the category is large (US Haircare market growing to $9.8B by 2023), there are relatively few products focussing on the LatinX consumer specifically; certainly, none that take a clean, elevated, brand-forward approach
• The LatinX consumer over-indexes on personal care spend relative to the average US consumer with Latina women, in particular, spending 46% more/year on hair care products than non-Hispanic consumers (per Nielsen).
• Within personal care, haircare is an emerging trend (specifically scalp care and maintenance); the skin-ification of haircare is underway (see BoF piece). This is being driven by a secular trend towards increasing consumer interest in ‘self-care’.

Earlier this year, Babba got back in touch. She was interested in brainstorming some ideas around how to service international demand for her products. Babba was particularly excited about the fast-growing demand she was receiving from Europe. We discussed a few options and suggested she speak to the team at Silas Capital who has extensive experience taking brands into international markets. That conversation proved fruitful and a few months later Babba reached back out again — this time regarding her Seed raise. At this point, we were very excited to lean in.

As we went through our diligence, we became increasingly excited. We already knew there was a compelling market opportunity for Ceremonia. As we learned more about Babba and her vision for the business, we realized that all the fundamentals we look for in a Seed investment were present.

• A large market with a growing customer segment that is currently being under-served
• Thoughtful, ingredient-level considerations driving product development coupled with a compelling product vision/roadmap
• Strong, experienced, authentic founder
• Compelling round dynamics and Exit prospects

We are excited to be starting this journey with Babba and the rest of her team as they look to bring clean, elevated personal care products to the LatinX community.

Investment Thesis

• Large market, underserved segment
• Growth tailwinds in the category
• Thoughtful product development and roadmap
• Authentic, mission-driven Founder

Risks

• The threat of new entrants
• Ability to cost-effectively acquire customers and encourage repeat purchase behavior

Why Black Jays

• We love investing in under-loved categories with no clear brand winners
• We know how to drive community engagement and customer acquisition through earned and paid channels
• We understand how to support the growth of omnichannel brands