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Skincare brand Topicals announced on Wednesday it has closed a round of funding with participation from the WNBA star Angel Reese and the Nigerian singer Rema, as well as other figures from the entertainment and sports industries. Terms of the investment were not disclosed. Since its 2020 launch, Topicals has raised over $20 million.
Speaking exclusively to The Business of Beauty, founder Olamide Olowe said that she wanted to invite investors from the Topicals community.
“When you think of [Topicals], you think of our marketing, storytelling and products, and you think a lot about culture,” she said. “These are people who control culture.”
The brand is known for products like its viral $22 under-eye masks and $38 Faded Serum, which targets dark spots and hyperpigmentation. While the brand’s offering focuses on treating skin conditions that are often more common in darker skin tones, Olowe said its customer base is diverse. The brand has sold more than 1 million eye patches, which Reese recommended in a Jan. 2025 Vogue video, and is available in the US, UK, Canada, Nigeria, and launched into France in November.
Olowe said that she was also keen to bring cultural leaders like Reese into the fold as institutional investment was dwindling for many Black-owned businesses. “Investors are pulling back their belief in Black-owned … businesses. We are really proud that other people who have capital in the culture want [our kind of business] to grow,” she said.
Rema will also join as a creative partner, advising on marketing the brand to young consumers, particularly men. Other investors include Asika, who manages the popular Nigerian-American singer Davido.
While many investors were keen to write checks for Black-owned brands following the killing of George Floyd in 2020, funding for many minority-owned businesses has since dried up. Olowe said that many investors also see Black-owned brands as niche.
“[The] ability to grow is stifled because they are seen as brands that are only for black people,” she said, adding that she is “living proof” that investing in diverse founders produces success.
In addition to their cash injection, the investors will make its marketing more efficient, as Olowe said it can lean into their personal brand and audiences. “You have to be very strategic about acquiring customers profitably, and driving revenue and lifetime value,” she said, adding that the economic climate in 2025 had been challenging.
However, she is confident that the brand’s ability to cater to customers with chronic skin conditions will continue to provide a path to growth.
“We’ve widened the customer base … in 2026, a lot of our growth is about how we’re using the brand as a platform.”
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