Call of the Wild led me to invest in a Growth 500 star

The founders of the natural deodorant brand Wild recently sold their business to Unilever in a deal thought to value the company at £230m. Freddy Ward and Charlie Bowes-Lyon founded the business less than six years ago. That is rapid success in a space not known for moving fast – or for £200m-plus exits.

My cousin and investment partner Sasha Kaletsky discovered Wild five years ago when it was raising seed capital. Although we weren't keen on direct-to-consumer (D2C) products, we thought Wild could be successful, so we invested and brought in relevant creators to do the same. A few years later, once we had raised our own fund in Creator Ventures, we wrote a large follow-on cheque as the company continued to grow.

The Wild story has great lessons, from launch to exit. To start with, Ward and Bowes-Lyon saw that while reusable products were becoming more common in daily life, the bathroom was still dominated by single-use plastics. They figured that by introducing more sustainable, refillable deodorants made from natural ingredients, they could carve out a market that would interest a growing segment of environmentally conscious consumers.

What is even more impressive is that the first product didn’t really work. When it launched in 2019, there was a lot of negative feedback. Instead of ignoring it, Ward and Bowes-Lyon paused, reworked their idea and came back in 2020 with a better version. That’s not easy to do. Most brands don’t recover from a bad first impression, but Wild did.

Then Covid hit. At-home self-care boomed, which helped, but supply chains were a mess, which didn’t. At one point, the business couldn’t even get enough baking soda, a key ingredient. I remember hearing that they literally called around other deodorant companies to see if they had spare stock. That kind of scrappy energy says a lot.

There is also brilliance in the product itself. Not only does the fact it is refillable mean less waste, but it also encourages people to subscribe, allowing for recurring revenue. It also creates a behaviour loop. Once a customer has bought into the system with the physical case, the natural next step when they finish a pack is to restock, not switch. That is powerful, especially in categories such as personal care where the alternatives are cheap, convenient and widely available.

It helps that the product looks good too. The aluminium cases are colourful and nice to have on the bathroom shelf. It’s a subtle thing, but it means people are more likely to share, gift and talk about it with friends. They managed to turn deodorant into something you could give your sister for Christmas without her being offended – true story!

Ward and Bowes-Lyon also recognised the power of an omnichannel approach as we came out of lockdowns and went back to shops. Using their D2C platform as an engine for marketing, they were able to harness brand awareness and love to drive real-world success in big retailers such as Boots, Tesco and Sainsbury's in the UK, and Target in the US. They didn’t go into retail cold. People already knew the brand – often because they had seen it online – and wanted to try it. That made a big difference.

That marketing engine has been key. On Wild’s socials, you’ll notice a clear strategy. While being better for the planet is a theme, it’s not the only thing they talk about. Instead, Wild built a brand around being funny, real and relevant – and by collaborating with hundreds of thousands of people, from celebrities to influencers to micro user-generated content creators.

They really did ride the media democratisation wave better than most. That meant they were able to build impressive cost per acquisition through a combination of paid and organic media. And they did that even as other D2C brands struggled due to Apple’s iOS 14.5 update, which restricted data tracking for advertising. Those that relied heavily on targeted performance marketing saw their customer acquisition costs spiral almost overnight. Wild managed to sidestep the worst of it.

Part of the reason for that comes down to how native its content felt – real people using and enjoying the product in a way that didn’t feel like advertising. The company worked with creators who liked the brand and were able to tell that story in their own way.

Following the deal, we will be seeing a lot more of Wild, especially in the US where it is already building serious momentum. It’s great to see this kind of success coming out of the UK right now. It’s a reminder that with the right backing, the right people and a clear vision, it’s still possible to build something that can genuinely change an industry.