Matière Première has closed a second round of funding, with Kering’s beauty division taking a minority stake in the French perfume brand.
The undisclosed investment from Kering Beauté will be used to expand the Paris-based business’ international reach.
This includes opening 20 standalone stores across the UK and US, as well as France, Germany, the Middle East and China.
“We will also strengthen our online presence through our own e-commerce website, which we are refining to offer an exclusive and personalised user experience,” said Caius von Knorring, co-founder and President of Matière Première.
Founders Aurélien Guichard, Cédric Meiffret and Von Knorring remain majority shareholders.
The trio established the business, which creates fragrances using just one ingredient, in 2019.
This includes Parisian Musc, featuring the scent of Peruvian ambrette seed, and the recently released Vanilla Powder, made from Madagascan vanilla absolute.
Several ingredients, including rose centifolia and tuberose, are sourced from Guichard’s farm in the Grasse region of France.
The brand also stocks hair perfumes and hand and body creams featuring the same notes as its fragrance line.
Matière Première completed a first funding round in October 2020, raising €1.3m to accelerate its business growth.
The fresh investment from Kering comes as the luxury giant continues to ramp up its beauty offering.
It handed over more than US$3.8bn to purchase French fragrance house Creed in 2023.
This was the first strategic acquisition for the dedicated beauty division, which was launched in February 2023 to boost its existing portfolio and presence in the cosmetics category.
Beauty industry veteran Raffaella Cornaggia, formerly of L’Oréal and the Estée Lauder Companies, heads up the luxury goods company’s beauty arm.
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