Wies­ba­den / Oberts­hau­sen — Betei­li­gungs-Manage­ment­ge­sell­schaft Hessen mbH (“BMH”), the medium-sized invest­ment and venture capi­tal company of the State of Hesse, is inves­t­ing in Stör­te­bek­ker Shaving Access­ories GmbH (SSA). The young e‑commerce start-up revi­ves tradi­tio­nal shaving and beard care with quali­ta­tive zero-waste products and gene­ra­tes a “barber­shop feeling” for their custo­mers at home. In addi­tion to BMH as lead inves­tor, Inves­ti­ti­ons- und Struk­tur­bank Rhein­land-Pfalz (ISB) through its subsi­diary Venture-Capi­tal Rhein-Neckar (VC RN) and a co-inves­tor parti­ci­pa­ted in the finan­cing round in the upper six-figure range.

SSA was foun­ded by Martin Picard in 2017 as an Amazon store with the aim of assis­ting custo­mers as a barber in their own home. 2020 follo­wed the online store, through which the high-quality shaving and beard care products, such as razors, shaving brushes and knives are addi­tio­nally distri­bu­ted. The range is comple­men­ted by the complete range of access­ories: soaps, beard balm, shaving oil, combs and brushes thus complete the perso­nal shaving expe­ri­ence. In addi­tion to a video tuto­rial about beard care, the company will add more access­ories for men to its product range in the near future.

“The Stör­te­bek­ker brand is inten­ded to stand for mascu­li­nity, free­dom and rela­xa­tion among our custo­mers and to trans­form shaving from an “annoy­ing evil” into a posi­tive ritual,” descri­bes Martin Picard (photo), foun­der and CEO of SSA, his vision of the home barber­shop, adding, “In contrast to the widely used system razors, we rely on products that are also used in profes­sio­nal barber­shops. Our plas­tic-free products feature opti­mal shaving results with less skin irritation.”

The new finan­cial resour­ces in the upper six-figure range are to be used predo­mi­nantly for the expan­sion of sales acti­vi­ties to further sales plat­forms, the retail trade and barbershops.

“Despite boot­strap­ping, SSA has alre­ady shown an impres­sive sales and earnings deve­lo­p­ment in the first years due to the great perso­nal commit­ment of Martin Picard. We are plea­sed to be able to support the company in its further busi­ness deve­lo­p­ment and in the expan­sion of a strong brand,” says the respon­si­ble invest­ment mana­ger Dirk Pieper of BM H Betei­li­gungs-Manage­ment­ge­sell­schaft Hessen mbH, which mana­ges the Hessen Kapi­tal III (EFRE) GmbH fund, among others.

“We are very plea­sed to be able to accom­pany this promi­sing company on its growth path toge­ther with our colle­agues from Hesse,” said Mike Walber, Head of Venture Capi­tal at ISB.

About BMH

BMH Betei­li­gungs-Manage­ment­ge­sell­schaft Hessen mbH, based in Wies­ba­den, was foun­ded in 2001 and is a wholly owned subsi­diary of Landes­bank Hessen-Thürin­gen Giro­zen­trale (Helaba). Through Wirt­schafts- und Infra­struk­tur­bank Hessen (WIBank), BMH is actively invol­ved in the econo­mic deve­lo­p­ment acti­vi­ties of the State of Hesse. As a medium-sized invest­ment and venture capi­tal company, BMH bund­les public invest­ment inte­rests and finan­cing instru­ments for early-stage, growth and medium-sized compa­nies in Hesse. BMH curr­ently mana­ges seven invest­ment funds with a total inves­ted invest­ment volume of around 125 million euros. Since its foun­da­tion, BMH has inves­ted in a total of more than 500 compa­nies. The main areas of invest­ment include the soft­ware & IT, life scien­ces, mecha­ni­cal and plant engi­nee­ring, indus­trial goods, profes­sio­nal services and e‑commerce sectors. More infor­ma­tion about BMH and its funds: www.bmh-hessen.de

About the ISB

Inves­ti­ti­ons- und Struk­tur­bank Rhein­land-Pfalz (ISB) is the deve­lo­p­ment insti­tu­tion of the state of Rhine­land-Pala­ti­nate with head­quar­ters in Mainz and is respon­si­ble for econo­mic and housing deve­lo­p­ment. As part of the finan­cing of start-ups and young compa­nies, the venture capi­tal divi­sion of the deve­lo­p­ment bank curr­ently invests in the deve­lo­p­ment and market launch of inno­va­tive products, a process or services via ten invest­ment funds and also supports the compa­nies in an advi­sory capacity.

About the VC RN

VC RN is an invest­ment company foun­ded by the savings banks and coope­ra­tive banks from the Rhine-Neckar region and the ISB, which invests in inno­va­tive and high-growth compa­nies from the Rhine-Neckar region. The fund is mana­ged by the ISB’s Venture Capi­tal, Equity Invest­ments division.