Goop, the lifestyle brand founded by Gwyneth Paltrow, is lapping up some serious investor love. The website has just snatched up $50 million in Series C venture funding from NEA, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Felix Capital, according to news from Fortune.
All in, that fresh investment brings the company’s total funds raised to around $82 million — meaning its total valuation is in the neighborhood of $250 million.
Paltrow’s commerce- and content-focused firm is of her own making. The Academy Award-winning actress is both CEO and creative director of goop. Privately held, the firm does not report its financials to the public, but in comments to Fortune, the firm indicated it has seen its revenue triple over the last two years. The company further told the media that it plans to double its revenue again in 2018 — and that the latest round of funding will be put toward that goal, particularly in the realm of an international rollout of the brand.
Goop has fielded a healthy amount of controversy over the years. Some complain the products it sells are promoting a lifestyle too expensively rarified for the average consumer browsing the site. Others have complained about the products endorsed, claiming they’re often a form of pseudo-scientific quackery masquerading as health products. This includes water bottles that use crystals to “infuse” the water or a “child-calming” mist.
These complaints have led goop into conflict with consumer protection groups like Truth in Advertising about the claims it makes about its products’ effectiveness as health aides. NASA even got in on the action, calling out the “healing stickers” being sold on the site. The makers of the stickers claim their product uses carbon conductive materials found in NASA space suit liners. NASA said it doesn’t use use carbon material to line its suits and that its current spacesuit contains no carbon fibers at all.
Despite the controversy, investors are still pouring money in, helping the brand go global.