Huddled acquires controlling stake in beauty surplus firm Boop

Huddled Group, the circular economy e-commerce group, has taken a 75 percent controlling equity stake in Boop Beauty Limited, an e-commerce business specialising in surplus beauty and cosmetic products.

In a statement, Huddled, which owns Discount Dragon, said it will pay an undisclosed "modest sum,” for the stake, “roughly equivalent to the value of stock on hand,” while adding a commitment to inject further capital to drive growth.

Boop, founded by former L'Oreal in-house lawyer, Yasmine Amr, is an online, direct-to-consumer retailer specialising in selling excess beauty and cosmetic products. Dubbed ‘The Outnet’ for luxury beauty and wellness products, Boop works directly with beauty brands to help them sell remnant, surplus and discontinued products.

It has become a trusted partner for well-known brands within this market, including Aromatherapy Associates, Foreo and Legology. In the second quarter of 2024, it delivered 558 orders with an average order value of circa 39 pounds.

Boop Beauty to relaunch in September following investment from Huddled

Huddled has taken Boop Beauty’s online store offline to be integrated into the company and is expected to relaunch the e-commerce site in early September.

Martin Higginson, chief executive of Huddled Group plc, said: "We are thrilled to be working with Yasmine. The Boop business concept is fantastic and sits perfectly with the Huddled circular economy strategy. It was clear that Huddled could provide Boop with some key ingredients- more stock, marketing and fulfilment - to drive growth.

"I'm confident with the resources and support of the Huddled Group, Boop can flourish, and become a trusted and ethical partner for beauty and cosmetic companies in solving their excess stock challenges".

Amr, founder of Boop, who will remain with the business both as a shareholder and non-executive director, added: "Over 4.8 billion US dollars worth of beauty products are destroyed globally each year, many of these due to overproduction. Boop had set out to tackle this serious issue and a growing number of brands have already embraced the concept.

“The investment from Huddled will allow me to accelerate the vision I had for Boop - I'm excited to be working with the Huddled team to drive the business forward."