Dollar Shave Club

Dollar Shave Club is a Venice, California-based company, that delivers razors and other personal grooming products straight to consumers by mail. The company positions itself as a cost-effective and convenient alternative to retail chains. It delivers razor blades on a monthly basis and offers additional grooming products for home delivery.

History

Dollar Shave Club was founded by Mark Levine and Michael Dubin. The pair met at a party and spoke of their frustrations with the cost of razor blades. With their own money and investments from start-up incubator Science Inc., they began operations in July 2011.

Dollar Shave Club is backed by a variety of venture capitalists. In March 2012, seed investors provided $1 million in funding from groups that included Felicis Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Andreessen Horowitz, Shasta Ventures, and Forerunner Ventures. The same group, joined by Venrock, provided $9.8 million in series A funding in October 2012. A year later, a $12 million series B round was raised led by Venrock, Comcast Ventures, New World Investors and Battery Ventures. Amidst the fundraising announcement, Dollar Shave Club announced it would be expanding its product line to include a dozen other men’s products in 2014. In June 2015, the company secured $75 million in series D funding.