The Business Model of Dollar Shave Club

Dollar Shave Club is a mail-order razor and personal grooming goods firm established in Venice, California. It offers home delivery of razor blades and other grooming goods on a monthly basis. Mark Levine and Michael Dubin established Dollar Shave Club. The duo met at a party and exchanged complaints about the high cost of razor blades. They began operations in January 2011 and launched their website in April 2011 using their own funds and investments from start-up incubator Science Inc. Dollar Shave Club received funding from a number of venture capitalists. In March 2012, seed investors contributed $1 million, including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Andreessen Horowitz, and Shasta Ventures. In October 2012, the same consortium invested $9.8 million in series A funding, joined by Venrock. A year later, Venrock, Comcast Ventures, New World Investors, and Battery Ventures led a $12 million series B round. Dollar Shave Club revealed during the fundraising announcement that company would be expanding its product portfolio to include a dozen additional men's goods in 2014. The company raised $75 million in series D fundraising in June 2015. Dollar Shave Club was acquired by Unilever in July 2016 for an estimated $1 billion in cash.