Unilever acquires Dr. Squatch for $1.5 billion
Unilever has acquired the men's personal care brand Dr. Squatch for $1.5 billion. The brand’s rapid growth was fueled by a viral video strategy that drove significant retail expansion.
In June 2025, Unilever acquired the men's personal care brand Dr. Squatch in a deal reportedly worth $1.5 billion. The company was founded by Jack Haldrop in 2012 with an initial investment of $1,500, representing a 1 million X return on the original capital. Dr. Squatch began as a direct-to-consumer e-commerce business selling cold-process soap, growing from $12,000 in sales in its first year to $5 million in 2018, $23 million in 2019, and $113 million in 2020. In 2019, the company raised $1.3 million from Guild Capital at a $5.7 million post-money valuation. In 2021, a private equity group, Summit, purchased a majority share. By the time of the Unilever acquisition, the brand had shifted from 90-100% direct-to-consumer sales to a majority retail model, with the retail business alone exceeding $300 million in sales. The company built its own manufacturing facility to produce 5 million bars of soap per month.
A key driver of this growth was a three-minute video ad produced in 2018 featuring a bearded man in an outdoor shower. The video, produced for approximately $15,000, has since accumulated 120 million views. The ad acquired customers for $3 to $4, with an average engagement cost of half a cent for two minutes of viewing. This efficiency allowed the company to treat the ad as a "sales machine," spending on it as long as it remained profitable. The video drove 30% to 50% of the company's $5 million in sales in 2018, with 12 million views in its first year. This success marked a pivotal shift in the brand's marketing strategy and contributed to its rapid scaling in subsequent years.