Yahoo Lifestyle Prai Beauty Is Acquired by Luxury Brands in Partnership With The Dodo Group
PARIS — Prai Beauty has been acquired by Luxury Brands LLC in partnership with The Dodo Group.
Financial terms of the deal, which is meant to help broaden the geographic reach of the “pro-aging” skin care brand, were not disclosed.
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In 1999, Cathy Kangas started Prai Beauty focused on the 50-plus crowd, then later began targeting the neck and décolletage region, which age at a faster rate than a woman’s face due to a variety of factors. Kangas will continue to lead the brand as chief executive officer.
“Prai Beauty has built an impressive reputation as a leader in targeted skin care solutions,” Michael Dodo, cofounder and chairman of Luxury Brands LLC, said in a statement. “We see tremendous potential for expansion across direct-to-consumer, R&D and marketing initiatives to elevate the brand’s presence globally.”
“This partnership marks an exciting milestone for Prai Beauty,” Kangas said. “With the strategic support of Dodo Group and Luxury Brands LLC, we are poised for unprecedented global expansion. I look forward to collaborating with Michael Dodo and his team to bring our innovative skin care solutions to even more consumers worldwide.”
Kangas has been evangelical about improving women’s feelings about their necks, and has also been focused on effects of menopause, such has hot flashes, night sweats and saggy skin, with a line called MenoGlow.
Kangas began her career in sales and marketing at Revlon, and launched Prai Beauty to address what she saw as a white space in the market. At the time, she said: “The 50-plus woman was forgotten. She was left behind by the beauty industry, and it didn’t make sense to me. I wanted to address her and celebrate her.”
From the start, Kangas pushed a “pro-aging” message. Rather than trying to demonize aging, she wanted to normalize the conversation around it. It was a bold move as talk of menopause and post-menopause — especially in the beauty industry — was taboo.
At the beginning, Kangas sold Prai Beauty products via TV shopping channels, on the advice of her father, Roy Northway Stephens. The late Northway Stephens had served as chief executive officer and managing director of Selfridges in London, and later as president of Revlon’s prestige division in the U.S.
Kangas launched Prai’s Ageless skin care line more than a decade ago, and it was the Ageless Throat & Decolletage Crème in particular that proved a hit and garnered the brand the title “The Neck Authority.”
Following its launch at Marks & Spencer in 2018, the cream became the retailer’s number-one bestselling beauty product, and turned Prai into the store’s number-one beauty brand. It is the top-selling neck cream on HSN and QVC globally.
In 2023, Prai Beauty debuted a neck bar at Marks & Spencer in London, which offered services such as yoga, massage and skin consultations using a hand-held device. Until then it had only offered hands-on services, such as “neckcials,” through pop-ups at M&S and on Princess, Carnival and Seabourn cruise ships.
Prai Beauty has been noting a surge of younger women consumers, who suffer from “tech neck,” due to constant perusing of digital devices.
Prai Beauty is Leaping Bunny Certified, meaning that it’s cruelty-free, while a portion of sales goes to animal welfare projects. Kangas is also a board member of the Humane Society in the U.S. and an ambassador for Nowzad, an animal rescue group based in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Prai Beauty is based between the U.S. and the U.K. Kangas lives in the U.S. and the products are manufactured by Bentley Labs in New Jersey.
The U.K. is the brand’s home market, where it is sold in 500 Boots, 200 M&S and 230 Waitrose stores.
Prai Beauty’s largest markets are the U.S., where it’s stocked in 250 JCPenney stores, and the U.K. It is also sold in the Canada, Europe and South Africa.
Kangas still promotes the products on the small screen and is happy to bring on guests in their 70s and 80s to show off their plump skin. She promises to transform women, no matter how wrinkled their necks may be, from “turkeys to swans” in a matter of days.
Prai Beauty products range in price from 25 pounds to 40 pounds. Its sales reached $15 million in 2024.
“With this acquisition, Dodo Group and Luxury Brands LLC reaffirm their commitment to investing in high-growth, consumer-focused beauty brands,” they said in the statement.
Luxury Brands, founded in 2017, has a portfolio of brands including Youngblood Mineral Cosmetics and Skincare, FHI Heat, Stylus and Neo Bond.
The Dodo Group, a diversified investment firm, was established in 2011. It specializes in acquiring and revitalizing legacy business in the beauty, luxury brands, retail, and food and beverage sectors.
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