Starface

We invested in Starface because they solved the same problem as a dozen other brands, and then did one more thing: they turned a thing people were embarrassed about into a thing they wanted to show. The little yellow star on a pimple patch is one of the clearest examples we've seen of brand doing genuine product work.

Julie Schott and Brian Bordainick built something that doesn't make sense to write off as a trend. The retention, the repeat purchase, the cultural adoption. All of it tells you this is a durable consumer brand, not a moment. We came in at Late Stage and are patient holders.

The economic argument for Starface specifically was velocity. Starface patches move through Target, Ulta, CVS, and specialty retail at rates most skincare operators spend years trying to hit, with a brand that requires almost no education at shelf. A Gen Z shopper knows what a yellow star patch is the moment they see one. That recognition is an economic asset that compounds quietly over years.

The brand has also been disciplined about SKU expansion, resisting the pressure to extend into categories where the founding thesis doesn't translate. That restraint is what keeps the equity of a breakout consumer brand intact through its second and third acts.

Starface is turning breakouts into bold self-expression. Hydrocolloid pimple patches shaped as yellow stars that changed how people, especially Gen Z, relate to having a pimple at all.

What started as a single iconic product has become a category leader in skincare retail, with expanded SKUs, color variants, collaborations, and an aesthetic that lives in its own lane. The proof is in the velocity: Starface patches move through retail at rates most skincare operators spend years trying to hit.

The brand has expanded methodically, additional patch formats, patch-adjacent skincare, strategic collaborations, without diluting the core recognition that drives velocity. That's the hardest part of running a breakout consumer brand: knowing which adjacent categories amplify the core and which ones dilute it. Starface's team has repeatedly picked the right side of that question.

International expansion is the next frontier, and retail expansion continues within the U.S. We're patient holders and expect to remain so.