Buff City Soap Receives Additional Growth Investment from General Atlantic

Original Article: Business Wire - May 10, 2022

Buff City Soap, a plant-based home and personal care brand franchise, today announced it has secured additional funding from General Atlantic, a leading global growth equity firm. This new capital follows General Atlantic’s initial growth investment in Buff City Soap announced in June 2021 and makes General Atlantic the largest shareholder in the company.

Founded in 2013, Buff City Soap has grown rapidly in the $78 billion U.S. personal care and home consumables category, building on its mission to create plant-based products that are free of harsh chemicals and detergents. Consumers are drawn to its differentiated, high-quality offering of soap, laundry, bath, and body products, all of which are handcrafted daily in each store’s Soap Makery. Since 2020, Buff City Soap has more than quadrupled in size, and the company has added over 130 stores since General Atlantic’s initial investment. Today, Buff City Soap has more than 215 locations across 30 states.

“As a growing number of consumers prefer brands that are plant-based, sustainable, and ultimately aligned with their personal core values, we have a remarkable opportunity on a number of fronts. Support from General Atlantic will enable us to continue to expand our physical and digital footprint, introduce exciting new products, continue to innovate our experiential in-store experience, and help shape the future of the personal care and home consumables category,” said Craig Kessler, Chief Executive Officer of Buff City Soap. “We look forward to building on our momentum with General Atlantic’s continued partnership.”

To support its growth, Buff City Soap has expanded its management team in recent months with several key hires. These hires include Kessler as Chief Executive Officer (former Chief Operating Officer at Topgolf), Enrique Ramirez as Chief Financial Officer & President of International (former Global Chief Financial Officer and General Manager of Latin America & Iberia at Pizza Hut), Jean Grossman as Chief Operating Officer (former Chief Franchise Officer at European Wax Center), and Shellie Caudill as Chief Product Officer (former product leader for Procter & Gamble and Bath & Body Works).

“Since our initial investment, Buff City Soap’s growth has continued to accelerate, demonstrating the long-term value of its innovative approach to creating sustainable home and personal care products that consumers love,” said Andrew Crawford, Global Head of Consumer at General Atlantic. “We believe that Buff City Soap is well positioned to capture additional market share in the growing personal care and home consumables category.”

Buff City Soap has a franchisee base of over 40 operators, including operators with former experience in high-performing franchisee systems including Planet Fitness, Sun Tan City, Wendy’s, and Smoothie King.

As part of the investment, Lexie Bartlett, Principal at General Atlantic, will join Buff City Soap’s Board of Directors.

About Buff City Soap

Founded in 2013 and franchising since 2018, Buff City Soap continues its rapid growth trajectory across 215 locations in 30 states. Buff City Soap’s delightfully smelling and uniquely handmade plant-based soaps, laundry, bath, and body products are disrupting the retail beauty and consumer goods categories, and Buff City Soap was recognized in Entrepreneur’s Top 100 “Best of the New” franchise rankings. For more information, visit the Buff City Soap website: www.buffcitysoap.com.

About General Atlantic

General Atlantic is a leading global growth equity firm with more than four decades of experience providing capital and strategic support for over 445 growth companies throughout its history. Established in 1980 to partner with visionary entrepreneurs and deliver lasting impact, the firm combines a collaborative global approach, sector specific expertise, a long-term investment horizon and a deep understanding of growth drivers to partner with great entrepreneurs and management teams to scale innovative businesses around the world. General Atlantic currently has over $84 billion in assets under management inclusive of all products as of December 31, 2021, and more than 215 investment professionals based in New York, Amsterdam, Beijing, Hong Kong, Jakarta, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, Munich, Palo Alto, São Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore, Stamford and Tel Aviv. For more information on General Atlantic, please visit the website: www.generalatlantic.com.