Stride Invests in Hair Care Brand Odele
After its partners made an early investment in Drybar, Stride is getting deeper into hair with Minneapolis-based hair care brand Odele.
The private equity firm just made a minority investment in Odele — a phonetic riff off of the Norwegian phrase å dele, which means “to share.” The brand was launched in 2020 by Lindsay Holden, Britta Chatterjee and Shannon Kearney, who together bring experience in retail, marketing and manufacturing in both big-box stores and smaller companies, from General Mills and hair care company Renpure to Target.
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The line began with nine stock keeping units and a Target partnership and since then, Odele has expanded to more products, as well as CVS and Ulta Beauty. Volumizing Shampoo, Volumizing Conditioner and Air Dry Styler, each priced at $11.99, are among its bestsellers, with clean formulas that are EU ingredient compliant.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but it’s understood the company’s sales are set to come in at around $30 million this year, up 55 percent year-over-year.
“We’re dedicated to building a brand that will last for generations — and that takes patience and sometimes restraint, which isn’t always in alignment with the objectives and speed of private equity. We were drawn to Stride because they understood our vision and business philosophy and shared our commitment to people and the planet,” Chatterjee said of the investment.
The growth capital from Stride Consumer Partners will fuel investment within key areas of Odele’s business, namely marketing, talent and product innovation.
Nicole Fourgoux, Stride operating partner, said: “Odele is moving the bar in clean performance hair care. We have seen this market segment thrive at prestige price points and are thrilled that the Odele team has made performance-first clean formulas accessible. We know that Odele’s positioning has huge potential in the modern marketplace.”
Last year, Stride made an investment in Patrick Ta Beauty, while the firm’s partners have also made early investments in Tatcha, Skinfix, First Aid Beauty and Drybar.
Investment in the hair market is picking up. K18 is among those said to be in the market, with heavy speculation that a deal could be announced before the year end.
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