Venice e-commerce startup Dollar Shave Club has raised $12 million to fuel its expansion from a razor vendor to a purveyor of men’s grooming products.
The series B round included investments from Boston venture capital firm Venrock, Comcast Ventures in San Francisco, New World Ventures in West L.A. and Battery Ventures in Menlo Park, according to a company spokeswoman.
Venrock was also part of the $9.8 million series A round that Dollar Shave Club closed in November. The cash infusion brings the company’s total funding to $22.8 million.
Dollar Shave Club, which was incubated out of Santa Monica’s Science, started with a monthly subscription service for men’s razors. The company has since expanded to shaving cream and flushable wipes.
Chief Executive Michael Dubin told the Business Journal in June that the company planned to launch four or five more products by the end of the year in an effort to become a recognizable men’s grooming brand. With the latest round of funding, the company now says it could expand to as many as 12 products, all under $20.
The company will also use the cash infusion to provide better product recommendations and service to its members.
Dubin told tech blog AllThingsD, which first reported news of the round, that the company will use some of its funding to hire an editorial team that will create branded content for Dollar Shave Club.
It won’t be the first time that Dollar Shave Club has created its own content. A humorous online video for the service became a viral hit when the company first launched, and last month the company launched an ad campaign featuring NFL centers hawking its flushable wipes.