Third Year of Science: Our startup formula
On the anniversary of our third year in operation, I wanted to take a moment to share insights into how Science has evolved into a network of growth companies. By leveraging a proven system of marketing and distribution technologies, we scale consumer goods, services and media brands.
When we started Science, our vision was simple — build big companies by pairing operational all-stars with the most passionate entrepreneurs. Three years later, we’ve substantiated our formula of leveraging our network of companies across a spectrum of direct to consumer goods and services, with online growth and marketing companies to nurture an environment of experimentation and advancement.
We created an internal technology platform and repeatable systems of practices, what we collectively refer to as our Growth Platform, that have driven consumer adoption, scaling businesses that we’ve bought, invested in and built under our own roof.
Our theme of disruption continues to identify older industries where we can use technology to bring innovation to subpar consumer experiences. As a result of breathing new life into older industries, a particular focus on millennials has emerged. While our reach is broad because of our ability to market and grow companies across the most ubiquitous social destinations, at this point Science possesses the strongest portfolio of platforms and technologies enabling brands to reach millennials.
Science has developed a new method of producing market leading companies, by building them internally and ensuring self-sustainability early on, as well as working closely with the venture community to generate the support needed to take companies to the next level.
We close 2014 with Science having acquired, founded or invested in 18 portfolio companies generating over $150M in 2014 total gross revenue. These companies range from marketplaces, commerce brands, media brands, mobile applications, and influencer networks. Nearly a third of the portfolio pushed into profitability in Q4, and the remaining ended the year well capitalized with highly supportive investors and boards.
We began 2015 with our first Hackathon in India, numerous new company launches and a big push into our mobile applications and investments. Up next, we have four companies we expect to be new breakouts in our portfolio: Handstand — an on-demand fitness trainer marketplace, SpringRole — a socially driven recruiting platform, LookStack — a premium mobile content platform and HIQ — our global Android-based learning platform.
We wanted to share a look at how we’ve structured Science to ensure fertile ground for tomorrow’s leaders. Below are some highlights, many the result of the $170M raised to date for our portfolio companies and $40M for Science.
Thank you for your continued support!
Michael Jones & The Science Team
Science 2014 Highlights
SCIENCE CORPORATE
Highlights
- Tripled the size of our growth, marketing and finance teams in our Santa Monica headquarters, ending the year with roughly 150 people on staff across San Francisco, Los Angeles, India and Armenia offices.
- Science’s Growth companies now globally reach over 500M monthly users (300M users on mobile and 300M users on desktop monthly).
COMMERCE & BRANDS
Highlights
- DollarShaveClub announced in November they now serve over 1M members
- UrbanRemedy shipped more than 500,000 bottles of organic juice and 50,000 food products to customers in 2014, doubling their volume from the previous year.
- PrizeCandle — Has delighted users providing joy and surprise within their game-like home good products, shipping over 400,000 candles in 2014. Prize Candle has distributed over $12 million in prizes!
- This Is Ground is merging technology and style with their line of leather goods and technical accessories. With dozens of television appearances, hundreds of media features and now direct sales within the Apple Store, TIG had a breakout year and has changed the way we physically interact with technology daily.
- Clashist has created a cult following, integrating well-known celebrity talent with their stand out pop culture apparel. In addition to their direct to consumer business, they are sold at Kitson, Modcloth, Nylon Mag, Nasty Gal, Urban Outfitters, Nordstrom and Forever21.
MEDIA & GROWTH
Highlights
- FameBit now reaches over 200M YouTube subscribers, and has worked with hundreds of brands on their fan-to-brand media creation and audience self-serve product.
- HelloSociety reaches over 36M users per month and over 372,000 daily engagements on and off of Pinterest. They now are the leading technology platform assisting brands on working within the Pinterest ecosystem, providing content creation, analytics and off-Pinterest brand amplification.
- PlayHaven (acquired 2014) is a mobile ad network with 30,000 publishers and a 280M monthly user base. They are one of the few independent direct premium SDK mobile interstitial networks and are about to release a completely new way to interact with mobile consumers.
- Science Growth Labs continues to work with brands on taking the broad learnings of the Science portfolio and craft digital marketing strategies for non-Science brands. They enjoyed a 3x growth over last year and have maintained the philosophy of working with both startups and large corporations as extensions of their internal marketing department. On average Science agency clients have seen a 30% increase in scale and 33% decrease in cost.
- Refame now works with the leading Vine influencers, managing their brand associations, mobile applications and content strategy.
- Delicious (acquired 2014) was relaunched by Science, Delicious manages submissions of more than 13M links from over 2M active users per month. Over a 1B links are served daily from more than 200 countries worldwide. Delicious recently launched Delicious Trending, which is now being used by 10% of the Delicious daily audience.
- Fuisz — is innovative technology that makes items within videos clickable. Using patented pixel tracking and computer vision technology, Fuisz provides marketers and publishers with high-value functionality within their videos. Science was first capital in and raised their $2m seed round. They are booking revenue by placing their technology within ad units.
MARKETPLACES
Highlights
- DogVacay announced they surpassed 1M dog nights and serviced a record number of customers this past Christmas holiday. They are now arguably the largest pet service company in the world.
- HomeHero provided more than 47,000 hours of in-home elderly service within the Los Angeles region alone. They have completely changed the way you manage elder care when tending to a loved one.
