Kim Lewis, CEO and Co-founder of CurlMix left her 6-figure job without any savings or job lined up, relying solely on her creativity to determine the next steps. That’s when she decided to sign up her husband and co-founder Tim for the popular game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Tim walked away with $100,000 in winnings, which was enough money to fund their first venture.
CurlMix was born. It started as a do-it-yourself subscription box and transitioned into a hair care line for curly hair.
CurlMix earned its first $1 million in sales in 2018 and the next year, Kim and Tim appeared on ABC’s show Shark Tank. where Investor Robert Herjavec offered the couple $400,000 in exchange for 20% of the company. They turned down the offer.
Last month, the couple launched an equity crowdfunding campaign for their haircare brand and raised over $1 million within four hours. In less than seven weeks, CurlMix had raised over $4.2 million.
Over 7,000 investors contributed to the Wefunder campaign since it was launched on April 6th. Kim and Tim now have a chance to create wealth in their community thanks to the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, the JOBS Act.
Typically, investors would have to be considered accredited in order to make certain investments however that requirement was changed.
In April 2012, the Obama administration signed the "Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS Act) into law. The JOBS Act encourages funding for small businesses in the United States by easing securities regulations, making it easier for companies to raise capital from their community.
Listener Brands, the parent company of CurlMix and the Lewis' other enterprise 4C ONLY is giving their community a chance to unlock generational wealth through their equity crowdfunding campaign.
There is no guaranteed return on investment, this opportunity allows investors to get in early and benefit from the company’s potential growth.
“Our goal is to create opportunities for our community to increase their wealth. Our vision is to change the narrative of what ownership looks like. We aim to become the first Black-owned publicly-traded beauty conglomerate.” - Listener Brands CEO and Co-Founder, Kim Lewis