US-based men’s personal care company Bravo Sierra announced a $17 million Series B fundraise, a retail launch into Walmart stores nationwide, and the appointment of Nicolas Geiger of L’Occitane Group as a new board member—three significant moves for the start-up founded in 2019 by co-CEOs Justin Guilbert and Benjamin Bernet.

Guilbert is a former marketing executive at L’Oréal. Bernet, a one-time Glossier advisor, formerly led marketing at Kiehl’s and L’Oréal Luxe, and founded beauty e-tailer DooBop, which he later sold to Sundial (now part of Unilever).

Bravo Sierra develops grooming products like shampoo, body wash, shave foam and deodorant and tests them with its “digitally native community of 2,500 US Special Operations Forces, active service members and veterans.” The company refers to them as the Battalion. The formulas are clean, paraben-free, sulfate-free, phthalate-free, phenoxyethanol-free -,  vegan, cruelty-free and made in the US from start to finish, according to the company, which is based in New York.

A portion of the company’s $17 million raise will be used to invest in the Bravo Sierra’s product innovation pipeline with domestic R&D and manufacturing.

Since its launch, Bravo Sierra’s revenue has doubled year-over-year, according to company officials, although they did not share specifics with Happi.

Those gains are benefitting more than just the company’s bottom line; 5% of all sales go to military quality of life support, strengthening the well-being of US service members, veterans and their families.

“With arguably the most substantial revenue share commitment in the industry, 5% of all Bravo Sierra sales are donated to support military families and veterans through a unique partnership with the Department of Defense's military exchanges as well as partnerships with non-profit organizations such as Merging Vets and Players, Team Rubicon and Team RWB,” Bernet told Happi.

The raise, led by The Merchant Club, is aiding that mission, too.

“A meaningful portion of this raise will be allocated to deepening our mission to support our military-native community. This raise will also be used to further accelerate our omnichannel strategy, including continued retail growth within military, mass, and e-commerce channels, and investment in the company's product innovation pipeline with domestic R&D and manufacturing,” Guilbert said.

Bravo Sierra Retail Expansion into Walmart

The new expansion into Walmart stores this week makes Bravo Sierra’s range more readily available across the marketplace. Products are also sold nationwide through www.bravosierra.com, Amazon, Target and Ulta. 

For Bernet, the alliance with Walmart has meaning beyond shelf space.

“We will be launching into Walmart stores nationwide on August 20 with a purpose,” he said. Walmart is responsible for hiring more veterans than any other organization in the United States and earlier this year introduced ‘Find-a-Future,’ a free site to help veterans and military spouses achieve their goals, which meets them where they are in their career journey, providing a coach and tools to understand their skills and experience and connect them to the right partners.”

Bernet and Guilbert pointed to Walmart’s March 2021 commitment to invest $350 billion on items made, grown or assembled in the US, which is estimated support more than 750,000 new American jobs, and the retailer’s American Lighthouses program  that aims to foster a stakeholder-involved environment for long term investments in American manufacturing.

“Walmart’s values around domestic manufacturing, underscored by their American Lighthouses program, and their support of military communities is core to who we are,” Bernet said. “Walmart has hired 250,000 veterans since 2013, which perfectly dovetails with our mission. Launching into Walmart nationwide will further establish our omni-channel strategy by seamlessly integrating our online and offline touchpoints with our community.”

Mission-Driven Skincare

As an executive leader in beauty and retail industry with experiences across Europe, Brazil and Japan, Geiger has spent more than 11 years at L’Occitane Group. He will bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to help advance Bravo Sierra’s goal to be “America’s Personal Care Company,” according to Guilbert.

That mission began back in 2017, born out of Bernet’s “desire for a men’s personal care brand that was high-performance, transparent, clean and mission-driven.”

He told Happi, “I had a simple idea to create a men’s grooming and personal care brand that was free of unhealthy ingredients and sustainably manufactured–as there were so many beauty brands out there but really no grooming brands that fit this mold.”

Guilbert added the military twist, paying homage to his grandfather, a US Navy WWII veteran.

Made in the USA

Bravo Sierra works exclusively with domestic contract manufacturers, R&D labs, packaging vendors, fillers, production facilities and US-based vendors to develop all of its products. 

While the products are simple, they aren’t completely utilitarian. Bravo Sierra has four unique, designer-inspired scents that were created with Lucas Sieuzac, a French master scent designer known for creating some of the most iconic perfumes and colognes in the world.

“This is his first collaboration with a men’s grooming company,” Bernet told Happi.

Another part of the mission is to keep the brand accessible.

“We believe that quality and performance shouldn’t be the privilege of the few who can afford to spend $20 on personal care staples. We make products of the highest quality, formulated in the USA with clean ingredients, designed for the most demanding community, and affordable for all,” he said.

There’s more to come from the indie brand,  including refillable body wash cans that will debut in October.

“In addition to that, in November we have a very exciting category launch that will further our mission to deliver products that are not only high-quality and effective, but incorporate designer-inspired scents,” Guilbert said.