AAA Unilever exits Cyden

Unilever exits Cyden

Unilever Ventures, the corporate venturing unit representing consumer goods conglomerate Unilever, is selling its stake in UK-based health and beauty company CyDen to existing investor Richard Koch, according to UK newspaper the Daily Telegraph.

Koch, founder of online gambling exchange Betfair, was one of the investors in CyDen’s £15m ($23.5m) series D round in April last year, along with Sir Nigel Rudd, and will hold a stake of about 30%-40%.

Unilever made its own investment in CyDen’s series C round, which raised £2.8m ($4.4m) in May 2008. Additional investors include venture capital firm Longbow Ventures.

The news was delivered as CyDen signed a five year partnership deal with consumer goods conglomerate Procter & Gamble (P&G) to market a personal hair removal device using pulsed light technology. The deal could be worth up to $392m and comes seven months after CyDen appointed Maria Koutsoudakis from P&G as Global Marketing Innovation Director.  

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