Kindred Brands, a newly formed holding company targeting underdeveloped beauty brands, has acquired sensitive skincare brand Kinship in its first deal — paying an undisclosed amount plus a three-year rolling royalty to the brand's previous financial owners.

CEO and founder Thomas Winarick confirmed the structure: Kindred obtained Kinship's assets and will pay the royalty over three years to prior owners, all of them financial players. His thesis rests on category math — nearly three-quarters of consumers identify as having sensitive skin, and conditions such as eczema are on the rise. He believes Kinship can become a category leader in skin barrier support, grown through the natural grocery channel.

"We wanted a purposeful brand that solved a real problem and had the bandwidth in terms of brand equity to evolve into categories beyond basic facial and body care," Winarick said. "We see this as a future The Honest Co.-like platform. It could go into baby, household and a lot of other categories, even pet, that involve sensitive skin issues."

Why the venture backers sold

Kinship launched in 2019 as gen Z-focused sun care, founded by Alison Haljun, a former VP at Benefit, and Christin Powell, former GM of Ever Skincare, product development director at Perricone MD and co-founder of Juice Beauty. The brand raised a $2.8 million seed round in 2021 from Harbinger Ventures, True Beauty Ventures, PEAK6 Investments and Sugar Capital.

Megan Bent, founder and managing partner at Harbinger Ventures, framed the sale as a timing decision. "The products are and have always been unique. It just took time to find the right strategy—the right application, price point, audience, channel and leadership team, which is not uncommon for young brands," she said. "It was the right time to pass the baton."

Both founders have exited. Powell pointed to assortment bloat and shelf-space compression as the structural headwinds that held the brand back, even with strong repeat purchase rates.

"In spring 2023, one of our smaller specialty retail partners introduced 23 new sunscreen SKUs in a single season. We had spent three years fighting to stay on that shelf. Then, we had to fight all over again," she said. "The beauty industry's obsession with more—more brands, more products, more launches—may be the very thing making it harder for truly great ones to survive."

What changes under new ownership

Kinship retains key management. Robert Rheaume, formerly CEO of Mayu Water and GM of ICU Eyewear, joined as CEO in 2024 and drove the pivot into natural grocery — the brand landed in 450 Sprouts stores last year and is working to expand that presence. Darin Kay Burnell, former director of North America marketing at MAC and North America marketing manager at Nars, serves as GM.

The current business splits sales evenly across direct-to-consumer, Amazon and retail. Kinship sells at Credo and was previously carried by Ulta Beauty. Its assortment runs 13 SKUs — seven facial care and six body care — at masstige prices from roughly $18 to $48, built around Kinbiome, a proprietary pre- and probiotic complex. Three bestsellers — Self Reflect SPF 32, Supermello Gel Cream Moisturizer and Brightwave Vitamin C Peptide Face Serum — account for about 60% of sales.

At its height, Winarick estimates the brand generated $5 million in sales, and he anticipates it will cross that level again soon. Beyond natural grocery, Kinship could expand into domestic healthy, specialty and digital retail channels.

Where the money goes next

Kindred Brands plans to increase investment in three areas: marketing, claims substantiation and research. To fund that, the company is reviewing Kinship's pricing and cost of goods for margin improvement, with savings redirected into those investment buckets — a signal that reformulation economics and substantiation work sit ahead for the brand's supply and regulatory partners.

In June, Kinship will introduce three facial care products.

Winarick is joined in the founding team by two unnamed partners with consumer-sector experience; the company is privately funded by its founders. Kindred Brands is not stopping at one acquisition and continues to hunt for brands he describes as "purposeful" with a distinct audience and distribution.

"We didn't get into this to build a $5 million company," he said. "We are really thinking of things we can scale in a major way."

Kindred Brands joins a crowded field of roll-up platforms chasing underperforming beauty assets, including Rare Beauty Brands, AS Beauty, Fundamental Brands, Skyline Beauty Group, Society Brands, Windsong Global and West Lane Capital Partners-backed Elevated Beauty Group. Watch for Kindred's second acquisition and the June facial care launch as the next concrete data points on whether the platform thesis holds.