PARIS — Bibbi Parfum, a nascent niche Swedish-French fragrance brand, has just received a significant minority investment from Fable Investments, Natura & Co.’s venture capital fund, and JamJar Investments.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“Bibbi is really a dive into my subconscious state of mind,” explained Stina “Bibbi” Seger, a Swedish-born creative designer who is the brand founder and creative director.
In her early 20s, she became intrigued by the art of meditation.
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“So I developed my own meditation practice,” said Seger, who added that while meditating, “I kind of travel to a parallel universe. In this state of mind, I have experiences, visions, meeting extraordinary characters.”
That is the basis of her collection of fragrances, which she calls “narratives.” Seger said she takes people on a journey into her meditative state, or parts of it.
“It’s the essence of the brand to have this mind-shifting ability,” she said.
Bibbi fragrance names, such as Boy of June, Ghost of Tom or Iris Wallpaper, open the narrative.
She co-owns Bibbi with her life partner, seasoned fragrance executive Jan Vilhelm Ahlgren, who acts as creative consultant. Seger launched the brand in late October 2023 with nine genderless fragrances exclusively in London’s Liberty department store. A 10th, called Rainbow Rose, has subsequently come out.
The perfumes are created with Robertet perfumer Jérôme Epinette.
Bibbi fragrances’ outer packaging, bottle caps and labels come in striking Klein blue. A 100-ml. flacon is priced at 245 euros.
The perfumes have rolled out to other selective doors, including Skins in Holland and South Africa; Nose in Paris; Galilu in Poland; Crème de la Crème in the Baltics; Abanuk in Spain, and approximately 20 doors in Italy. In total, there are about 60 locations in Europe.
Bibbi’s e-commerce business launched one month ago.
Seger lauded Fable’s managing director Thomas Buisson for his knowledge of the fragrance industry, as well as his and JamJar founders’ brand-building prowess. The latter are also experienced entrepreneurs.
“The combination with them and us felt very good and interesting,” said Seger. “They can bring different things to the table. To have that competence at this early stage will help us to build Bibbi in the right direction from the start.
“They’re also lovely people, which is so important,” she continued.
Bibbi’s capital increase will go toward team building, product development and retail-channel strategy.
“I have plans,” said Seger.
Buisson said Fable adores the burgeoning fragrance landscape. Its first investment in it was in Perfumer H. Also this year, Fable invested in beauty brand Eadem.
“Beyond the fact that we loved [Bibbi] products and thought there was something really distinctive in the various eaux de parfum that they launched, it all came together quite strongly as a concept and something that would stand out from a visual and art direction perspective,” said Buisson, noting also the overall consistency of the brand. “It felt really strong, meaningful and purposeful.”
Fable was impressed, too, with how Bibbi managed in a very short period of time to attract some of the most sought-after retailers in Europe.
“This provides a great base to work from,” said Buisson. He described Bibbi’s founders as an inspirational couple, who live and breathe the brand at a level rarely seen.
Richard Reed, a cofounder at JamJar and Innocent drinks, and Emily Bullman, an investor at JamJar, jointly in a statement said that Seger and Vilhelm Ahlgren’s “unique creativity and fresh approach to luxury parfum is clearly borne out by Bibbi’s immediate cult status. At JamJar, we look to back founders disrupting categories and bringing consumers joy in new, inspiring ways. We believe Bibbi does just that, through the brand’s stunning visuals, unique scents and mind-shiftng message.”
JamJar is a venture captial firm specializing in early-stage consumer brands. Late last year it led a series A funding round for Yepoda, a K-beauty brand based in Germany. JamJar has also backed food delivery service Deliveroo, watch trading marketplace Chronext and the Bluebottle coffee retailer and brand, among others.