PARIS — Matière Première said it has closed a second funding round, with Kering Beauté taking a minority stake in the French niche fragrance brand.
Financial terms were not disclosed.
“We are entering a new phase of our development,” Caius von Knorring, chief executive officer of Matière Première, told WWD. “Matière Première has been growing extremely fast.”
In 2023, its retail sales increased 70 percent to 30 million euros.
Matière Première and Kering executives found common values and long-term vision, including a regard for perfumes as luxury, according to von Knorring.
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Matière Première will use the infusion of funds to expand its physical retail presence, with plans to open the brand’s own stores, starting this year in Paris.
“We are looking already for a space also in London,” added von Knorring.
A goal is to have 20 freestanding boutiques in Germany, the U.S., Middle East and China, as well.
Von Knorring founded Matière Première in October 2019 with perfumer and artistic director Aurélien Guichard and general manager Cédric Meiffret. They remain majority shareholders. The trio set out to propose the highest-quality contemporary French perfumery to the world.
Europe is Matière Première’s largest market sales-wise.
Vanilla Powder, the latest eau de parfum, from October 2023, has become Matière Première’s bestseller, representing one-quarter of the brand’s overall sales.
Its prior launch, Crystal Saffron, is well-received, too, von Knorring said.
“Every time we have launched a new product, [it does] better than the previous launch,” he said. “We have a very solid portfolio of fragrances now.”
There are 12 fragrances, including one exclusive to Harrods. And more scents are in the pipe, including a line of five extrait de parfum being teased in mid-June.
Matière Première’s new funds will also help strength its team in the Paris headquarters, welcome more regional support and accelerate e-commerce expansion worldwide. A new version of matiere-premiere.com, with an exclusive and personalized user experience, is due out this year.
This fundraise marks the first minority stake Kering Beauté has taken in a beauty brand since Kering’s beauty division was reinstated in February 2023.
Niche fragrance is the fastest-growing category in the fine fragrance market today. That’s never been lost on Kering Beauté, which in June 2023 acquired Creed, also in that segment.
Matière Première raised its first funding round, of 1.3 million euros, with 10 international investors, in October 2020.
The brand launched in 2019 with six scents. Each Matière Première fragrance is created to highlight one natural ingredient in overdose. It uses sustainable practices in the entire development chain, including sourcing, with Guichard cultivating his own organic natural ingredients, such as Rose Centifolia and tuberose, in fields exclusive to Matière Première in Grasse, France. The brand works with other ethical producers, as well.
Matière Première is present today in more than 50 countries globally and almost 400 selective sales points.
Its parent company, called the Fragrance Designer, was founded in 2017.