Living Proof
This article was originally published in The Rose Sheet
Executive Summary
"Excited by the success [the brand has] had out of the gate," Polaris Venture Partners gives Living Proof $9 mil. in funding to advance its technology pipeline and support international expansion. Living Proof'sNo Frizz line of silicone-free, frizz-neutralizing hair products, which rolled out in February, "is one of the biggest launches to enter the market this year at Sephora," the Cambridge, Mass.-based brand says. "This financing will give us the capital to create and market category-busting new products like we've had with No Frizz," Living Proof CEO Rob Robillard states, adding: "It will allow us to replicate this early success in markets outside the United States." Founded by biomedical scientist and MIT professor Robert Langer, Living Proof touts itself as a performance- rather than marketing-driven brand backed by the resources typically reserved for biopharma startups (1"The Rose Sheet" Oct. 13, 2008, Marketing In Brief). Products also are sold through QVC and the company's Web site