Kim K. keeps rolling in the Kash.
The curvy reality TV star-turned-business mogul’s shape-wear brand Skims raked in $270 million in its most recent funding round to lift the company’s valuation to $4 billion, Kardashian said Wednesday.
Kardashian is Skims’ largest individual shareholder, with an approximate 35% stake in the company, according to Forbes.
That means the 42-year-old mother-of-four is in for a half-billion-dollar windfall — bringing her net worth to $1.7 billion.
Skims’ new valuation makes the company she co-founded with business partner Emma Grede in 2019 twice as valuable as legacy retailer Victoria’s Secret, which saw sales drop 6% last year and has a market cap of $1.6 billion.
Grede, who also serves as Skims CEO, holds an 8% stake in the company.
The pair may now be poised to take the privately-held company public.
Asset manager Wellington Management — which has a reputation for launching IPOs — and venture firm Greenoaks Capital pumped the new funds into Skims.
“It has grown quickly and we’re so proud of that,” Kardashian told The New York Times. “We’ve had a really good flow of product launches.”
The company is on track to post its highest earnings year in the firm’s short history, expecting to amass $750 million in sales by the end of this year.
Skims has also branched out from its slimming bodysuits to apparel items such as pajamas and bathing suits. This fall, men’s clothing will be added to the catalog.
Skims, which began as an online-only company, is also planning to add brick-and-mortar locations in New York and Los Angeles next year. The company currently has retail presence in department stores such as Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue.
The move comes after the brand saw runaway success with temporary pop-up shops in Rockefeller Center and in London.
The latest infusion of funds follows the $240 million Skins raised last year primarily from hedge funds and investment firms including Josh Kushner’s Thrive Capital, Lone Pine Capital and D1 Capital Partners.
Skims is just one arm of Kardashian’s ultra-lucrative business empire, which also includes a private equity firm called SKKY Partners launched last year with former Carlyle Group executive Jay Sammons .
SKKY Partners is currently raising a $1 billion fund to invest in consumer and media companies, according to Forbes.
Kardashian also has a beauty brand, which launched in 2017 as KKW Beauty but was later rebranded as SKKN by Kim following her split from rapper Kanye West, now known as Ye, who holds a 5% stake in Skims.
The “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” star has also pumped millions into her real estate portfolio, which spans at least six properties, including a $70 million Malibu home she purchased last year and a $6 million spaceship-shaped abode that’s currently under construction.
Kardashian also had a 20% stake of beauty company Coty, which she sold for $200 million in 2020, though she’s reportedly in talks to buy back the brand.
[Written in collaboration with other media outlets with information from the following sources]
