From Longevity to Labubu: How Culture Is Rewiring Consumer Brands

🧬 Blueprint Raises $60m to Productize Longevity

When Bryan Johnson first unveiled his personal longevity protocol, it was more curiosity than company. Now it’s a $60m business bet backed by Kim Kardashian, Logan Paul, Alex Hormozi, and other high-profile investors.

Blueprint’s evolution

• 2014 → Founded Braintree (sold to PayPal for $800m).

• 2015 → Launched OS Fund ($100m personal capital for biotech).

• 2016 → Started Kernel (non-invasive neurotech).

• 2025 → Now turning his own health regimen into a consumer platform.

Why investors care:

• Platform > product. Blueprint bundles diagnostics, supplements, AI-driven coaching, and therapies into a measurable, recurring-revenue model.

• Creator distribution. With 4m+ followers across channels, Johnson can launch without traditional paid acquisition.

• Data as moat. If Blueprint can prove longitudinal biomarker improvements, it could earn medical-adjacent credibility and software-like multiples.

The comps:
MrBeast → $215 M Feastables revenue (2024).
Huberman → Momentous collab = ~20× sales lift.
Attia → Authority-led ecosystem, not CPG.

💡 If Blueprint succeeds, it could define the “creator × clinician × operator” template, a new category where distribution and data meet disciplined science.

🧸 Labubu and the $1,000 Blind Box Economy

A monster-to-icon story.

Labubu, created by Hong Kong artist Kasing Lung, started as a quirky storybook character in 2015. In 2019, Lung signed an exclusive licensing deal with Pop Mart, the Chinese collectibles powerhouse built on the blind box model; buyers don’t know which figure they’ll get until they open it.

Then came the spark: in April 2024, BLACKPINK’s Lisa posted a photo with a Labubu keychain. It went viral across Asia, transforming the toy into a fashion statement. Limited editions now resell for $1,000+, clipped to designer bags from Seoul to Paris.

What makes it work:

• Artistic authenticity: Lung’s “ugly-cute” aesthetic stands apart from typical kawaii.

• Distribution innovation: Pop Mart’s blind-box gamification fuels scarcity and dopamine.

• Cultural virality: Endorsements from Lisa, Rihanna, Dua Lipa, and Kim Kardashian pushed it into global status-symbol territory.

📦 Labubu shows how IP + distribution + celebrity culture can transform niche art into a mainstream collectible economy.

🕯 Courteney Cox’s Homecourt Raises $8m to Bring Beauty to the Home

Homecourt, the home-care and fragrance brand founded by Courteney Cox, has closed an $8m Series A led by CULT Capital (investors in Youth to the People and Nécessaire).

Branded as “beauty for the home,” Homecourt merges the sensorial world of fine fragrance with everyday cleaning.

The play:

• Expanding from hand wash → candles → surface care.

• Leveraging celebrity credibility without overexposure.

• Targeting the “premium utility” segment alongside Ouai (P&G exit), Blueland, and DedCool.

🏡 The blurring of beauty, scent, and home ritual continues and investors are clearly betting that “aesthetics as utility” will be the next billion-dollar consumer trend.

🎙 Podcast Highlight: Drew Skolnik on What Good Looks Like in Consumer 2025

When valuations shrink and capital tightens, what still defines a great brand?

Drew Skolnik, Partner at KarpReilly (Spindrift, Made In, Boxycharm), joined In The Money to share how he evaluates today’s best consumer opportunities.

In this episode:
📉 Why 2021’s valuation logic is dead
💡 How founders should prove capital efficiency before raising
🧩 Why execution is the new moat
🔥 How KarpReilly identifies $20–100 M brands ready to break out
🍽 His take on GLP-1’s impact on food and wellness

🎧 This conversation is a blueprint for building durable, capital-efficient brands that can survive multiple market cycles.

🎧 Watch on YouTube, listen on Spotify.

That’s it for this week.
If you liked this issue, forward to a friend who obsesses over brand strategy, capital flows, or exit timing.

In the Money – following the flow of capital in consumer

P.S. We love talking to brands interested in exiting in the next 3-18 months. If you know of any brands interested in exiting, or any firms trying to help port cos manage turnarounds, we'd love to share a POV.

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