Temple Bright advises cosmetics platform Veleza on crowdfunding

Tech City law firm Temple Bright has advised Veleza, an online social community to help people buy beauty products matching their personal needs, on a £500,000 equity crowdfunding campaign across two platforms: SeedInvest in New York and Crowdcube in the UK.

Veleza has built an engaged community of beauty product consumers. On its platform, thousands of people are sharing their products experiences through ratings, reviews, photos and surveys.

Co-founder Martynas Nikolajevas said: “This is our unique way to collect and share consumer feedback. Think Yelp, Foursquare, IMDb or Vivino for cosmetics. With this user-generated content, we can help brands and retailers drive sales online.

“We’re seeking investors who will dare to support us on our journey to become the go-to destination for beauty product consumers, brands and retailers worldwide.”

In February 2018, Veleza launched web widgets to allow beauty brands and retailers to integrate the user-generated content (UGC) collected on the platform into their e-commerce funnel. Veleza’s UGC reached 0.11 million people in February and by July had grown sixfold to 0.62 million.

Since that time, Veleza has grown its sales pipeline from just a dozen to more than 300 companies. Nikolajevas says that the business is in discussion with brand owners small and large, including multinationals such as Shiseido, L’Oreal, LVMH and Unilever. On the retail side, Veleza has concluded a deal with Feelunique (Europe’s largest online beauty retailer), started a pilot with Douglas (a significant player in Germany) and is talking with others, including Superdrug and Zalando.

Temple Bright corporate partner William Ingram Hill said: “We are delighted to be advising Veleza, a potentially game-changing young business which has created a compelling opportunity, in the social media space, for consumers and investors alike. We will be watching with great anticipation as Veleza launches this investment round and continues its ambitious programme of international growth.”

Temple Bright was established in 2010 using a tech-enabled, streamlined business model and now has 62 partners with offices in London and Bristol. The firm has a focus on corporate finance work across a range of sectors, with a particular emphasis on technology.

This article appeared on the Bdaily website on 20 September 2018.