Unilever Ventures has purchased a minority stake in luxury natural skin care brand True Botanicals, according to a report published by the Business of Fashion. The FMCG behemoth’s private equity arm made the investment together with several other investors as part of a US$3 million round of seed funding.

The acquisition marks the first time the venture capital unit has singled out a direct-to-consumer prestige skin care brand, suggesting that it sees huge potential in the sector’s future.

“True Botanicals ticked a lot of boxes for us; an early, but demonstrable high growth trajectory, a great founding management team, an authentic brand with a distinctive positioning as well as an innovative, digitally native business model,” Oliver Garel, Head of Venture at Unilever Ventures told Business of Fashion. “From a business perspective, the direct distribution enables the company to invest much more than has been traditional in the product quality and the shopping experience.”