A startup founded by two Miami University alumni has raised millions in new funding, adding a Cincinnati-based venture capital firm to its growing pool of investors.
Mad Rabbit Tattoo, a Cleveland-based tattoo skincare brand founded by Selom Agbitor and Oliver Zak, 2019 graduates of Miami, last week announced the close of its $10 million Series A.
The funding round was led by Lucas Brand Equity, a New York-based private equity fund, with participation from billionaire Mark Cuban, Acronym Venture Capital and locally based H Venture Partners, among others.
The raise stands as the brand’s largest to date and quadruples its valuation to $56 million, Mad Rabbit said. The company plans to use the capital for product expansion, to increase marketing efforts and to grow its team to meet demand.
Mad Rabbit offers nine skincare products aimed at tattoos enthusiasts, including a balm to enhance brightness ($20), numbing cream ($26), sunscreen ($27) and a soothing gel ($23) tailored to new tattoos.
The company said the market is exploding. Currently, 44% of the U.S. population has at least one tattoo, double from 10 years ago.
"We are thrilled to have the support of such prominent investors, who believe in our vision and our commitment to providing the best possible aftercare products to tattoo enthusiasts," Zak, CEO of Mad Rabbit, said in a release.
Cincinnati VC firm joins Mark Cuban, investors
For H Ventures, Mad Rabbit represents the firm’s first Ohio-based investment, Managing Partner Elizabeth Edwards said. The firm, which targets consumer companies in the food and beverage, beauty, health and wellness, fitness, personal care space and more, recently closed on a $10 million raise for its $20 million Fund II.
Edwards said she’s been tracking Mad Rabbit for the better part of a year. The firm's first introduction came last January via Lindsay Carlson, a managing director at investment bank William Blair who is also a Miami University alum.
Edwards said the company has created an interesting niche in skincare, “which is nearly impossible to do.”
“If you’re talking anti-wrinkle (for example), there’s 100 brands you could choose from,” she said.
Mad Rabbit also has been incredibly capital efficient, Edwards added.
Her firm’s investors include more than 100 retired consumer packaged goods, or CPG, experts, many from giants such as Procter & Gamble, Kao and Kroger – and Mad Rabbit, she said, has “done a great job of tapping into their expertise.”
"Our investors got really excited because it's a big market, there's an unmet need and a lot of opportunity for product innovation, which (Mad Rabbit has) already started," Edwards told me. "I've been really impressed at how sophisticated this team is. They are young, hungry, resourceful and sharp. They have an exciting pipeline of innovation that I think will appeal to consumers and strategics.”
While H Ventures is a new partner, both Lucas Brand Equity and Cuban, an entrepreneur and investor best known for his role on the ABC show “Shark Tank,” are repeat investors.
Cuban first struck a deal with Mad Rabbit on the show in 2019, offering $500,000 for a 12% stake in the company. Mad Rabbit entered Shark Tank then with a $10 million valuation.
Mad Rabbit said the brand has only accelerated in “development and popularity” since. It's growing at a 138% clip year-over-year.
What comes next for Mad Rabbit
Zak and Agbitor were also recently included on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list, which has created extra buzz.
Zak, who is from Cleveland, and Agbitor, who grew up in Columbus, created the company's first batch of balm in a crockpot in Zak’s college kitchen from ingredients bought off Amazon. Mad Rabbit said the market is saturated with products containing ingredients harmful to tattoos. Its products are non-toxic and paraben-free.
With the round’s close, Edwards and Ian Knowles, a partner at Lucas Brand Equity, join the Mad Rabbit board.
Currently, Mad Rabbit is sold online at madrabbit.com, verishop.com, vitaminshoppe.com, Amazon.com and in store at 206 Urban Outfitters and 1,200 GNC locations as well as 350 tattoo shops nationwide.
Mad Rabbit has raised $12 million in capital to date. Past investors include Miami’s student-led venture fund RedHawk Ventures, NFL wide receiver Stefon Diggs and rappers Riff Raff and Yelawolf.
The company has 13 full-time employees and plans to add three to four new hires in the next two months to support its wholesale division, a spokesperson said. Mad Rabbit also plans to grow its retail and digital marketing team this year.
Miami is among the largest colleges in the Dayton region.
