St. Pete hair care startup receives investment
Summary
Black Dog Venture Partners has taken an equity position in Sober Roots, a minority-owned, St. Petersburg-based beauty brand that represents its founders triumph over adversity.Scott Kelly, CEO of Black Dog Venture Partners (BDVP), announced Monday that his company acquired a 20% stake in the startup that offers alcohol and chemical-free products. Kelly met Smith at a BDVP Fast Pitch event and found her ability to turn negative experiences into a successful business idea inspiring.Smith told the Catalyst the added capital would support marketing efforts, create distribution partnerships and help her expand Sober Roots line of natural products.The vision behind the product is definitely to try and help support people that may have gone through trauma, hair loss or cancer, and that may be in the recovery process, said Smith. And the other part of the growth, eventually, is to add some research to help with learning natural ways to help hair grow back.Smith, who is bi-racial, moved to St. Petersburg from Connecticut in 2001. She became a single parent at 17 and experienced drug addiction and homelessness before getting sober in 2012.She then decided to help others and began working for the St. Pete Free Clinics womens shelter. Eventually, Smith would also like to utilize students from local colleges to research what natural ingredients provide the most hair and beauty benefits.Even on a small scale, if you can help one person, it makes it all worth it, she said.For more information on Sober Roots, visit the website here.