A model turned entrepreneur is expected to have made tens of millions of pounds after selling her online cosmetics business to The Hut Group in a £275 million deal.
Alexia Inge co-founded Cult Beauty, the website that sells about 300 upmarket beauty brands including Sunday Riley, Kate Somerville and Drunk Elephant.
Inge told The Times two years ago that she was looking for a new investor, describing the process of attracting corporate suitors as like “dating but not exclusive”.
After sealing the deal to join The Hut Group’s rapidly expanding beauty division which includes Look Fantastic, she said: “I’m a bit overawed by it all, eventually we got there and found our prince charming”.
She added that alongside early seed investors, which included Inge’s friends and family, ten senior members of staff, who had been given share awards in the business, had received “life-changing” sums as a result of the deal.
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Inge, 44, started Cult Beauty in 2007 out of frustration with some of the myths and false advertising she said the cosmetics industry peddled to its consumers. During her days as a model she said she saw make-up artists using tape to cover the brand names of products they would actually use, rather than the ones the photoshoots were meant to be advertising.
Inge mined her industry contacts for tips on the brands that worked. She retired from modelling aged 22 after she broke her back and sternum in a car crash.
Over a “boozy lunch” with Jessica Deluca, the pair came up with the idea of mimicking a beauty hall of fame online where only cosmetic products that lived up to their hype were sold.
The curated list of products and advice that comes with them has helped to build Cult Beauty’s reputation and customer base, with the online retailer regularly publishing closely watched trend reports on the next “new thing” in the market.
Cult Beauty’s growth exploded during the pandemic as more people shopped online. Inge said that while make-up and fragrance sales declined, people started to spend more on skincare products and luxury bath treatments, including items such as acupressure mats and light therapy facemasks costing £1,680.
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Inge said the past year had felt “like people were finally seeing what we have been talking about for the past 14 years”.
The Cult Beauty takeover is The Hut Group’s 12th acquisition since it listed last year. The business, which is worth £6.42 billion, was founded by Matt Moulding in 2004 as an online CD retailer and has become a technology business that provides logistics for other brands to sell online.
The Hut Group said that it expected Cult Beauty to contribute sales of £60 million and add £3 million of adjusted earnings this year.
