Many care products – even those of big, well-known brands – contain microplastics, hormone-disrupting and/or other ingredients that are harmful to people and nature. Sustainable care brand Naïf’s products are completely free of harmful ingredients and its packaging is also made of recycled plastic. Today, Naïf announced that it raised €23 million from UK impact investor Future Business Partnership (FBP). This is great news because it means that Naïf can invest even more in innovating its products and achieve further growth at home and abroad.
Since 2019, DOEN has been cooperating with Naïf because of its exemplary role in the sector.
During this period:
- Naïf switched from bioplastic to recycled plastic for its packaging
- Naïf achieved an annual growth rate of 56% in food and drug retail (IRI data)
- Naïf secured a quarter of the baby care market (IRI data)
- Naïf became the largest mineral sunscreen brand in the Netherlands
- Naïf reduced its product packaging by half compared to 2019
- Naïf increased its turnover tenfold
- Naïf saved plastic and CO2 through innovations such as plastic-free wipes and refill packs. With its plastic-free wipes, Naïf saved the net equivalent of 4 million PET bottles of plastic. This represents CO2 savings equivalent to travelling 19 times around the world by car.
Marc Rasmussen, Impact Investment Principal at DOEN Participaties looks back on the successful partnership with satisfaction: “DOEN stepped in initially because of Naïf’s exemplary role: many care products – even those of big, well-known brands – contain microplastics, hormone-disrupting and/or other ingredients that are harmful to people and nature. Naïf’s products do not contain any of these ingredients and the company’s success has affected the personal care product market favourably, demonstrating that things can be done differently.”
DOEN Participaties serves as the social investment company for the DOEN Foundation, the fund of the Postcode Loterij. Because the Postcode Loterij wishes to offer its players prizes that are as sustainable as possible, it also includes Naïf products in its prize packages. This has enabled Naïf to increase awareness for its brand across a broad-based audience.
With the arrival of a new investor, DOEN’s involvement as an investor will now come to an end. Future Business Partnership will take over the shares of all current investors, including those of DOEN Participaties. DOEN will reinvest the proceeds of its exit in sustainable and social start-ups.
You can read Naïf’s press release about the investment (in Dutch) here.
