Black Girl Sunscreen (BGS) is a Black owned sunscreen brand based in Van Nuys, CA. The company produces a fragrance-free, melanin reinforcing SPF 30 sunscreen moisturizer using natural ingredients. This month, BGS secured a $1 million dollar investment from a private female funding source.
Despite Black owned businesses typically having the most challenging time raising capital, BGS achieved this milestone with one single anchor product.
Currently, BGS is the only indie Black owned sunscreen brand carried full time in Target’s sun care section. This came after a successful sales and marketing campaign, which focused on the importance of all complexions needing sunscreen. Now over 200 Target stores across the country sell the BGS SPF 30 and BGS Kids SPF 50.
After months of vetting potential partners, owner Shontay partnered with an investor who embodies many of her traits, namely integrity, and business savvy. Black Girl Sunscreen is valued at $5 million, after recently receiving their newest investment.
In the throes of COVID-19, the five-person BGS staff implemented an “all hands-on deck” mentality to ensure the company thrived. Lundy, refused to let the pandemic slow down her progress, stating that, “I told the team we need to change the narrative and be very nimble to survive this.”
The team immediately enhanced their social media strategy, started working longer hours, and increased their marketing efforts. Since the onset of COVD-19, the brand has seen a tremendous uptick in e-commerce orders and will be launching a new product later this year.
Traditionally, businesses with women of color CEOs at the helm, receive less than 1 percent of all VC funding every year. Black women startups and entrepreneurs are leading the pack when it comes to being marginalized, only receiving 0.2% of all funding.
Despite the large funding gap, women of color, especially black women aren’t slowing up anytime with funding new businesses and diving into entrepreneurship, as minority women account for 89% of new businesses opened every day. We sat down with Lundy to speak about her new private investment in Black Girl Sunscreen and where she sees Black Girl Sunscreen going next.
Source: Dominique Fluker for FORBES
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