Beautycounter

Santa Monica, California, USA · Founded by Gregg Renfrew · Founder-led

Founder-led clean beauty pioneer; the brand whose 'Never List' set the U.S. clean prestige standard. Relaunched as Counter in 2025.

Why it matters

Founded 2013; reached $1B valuation; sold majority to The Carlyle Group in 2021, entered bankruptcy under PE-installed leadership, was bought back by Renfrew in April 2024 and relaunched as Counter in October 2025. The most-cited cautionary tale of clean-beauty PE misalignment.

Ingredients we're watching

Never List excluded ingredients (1,800+)

External

counterbeauty.com →

Other brands in Clean Skincare

Tata Harper Skincare
Champlain Valley, Vermont, USA · Tata Harper
Rhode Skin
Los Angeles, USA · Hailey Bieber
Credo Beauty
San Francisco, USA · Annie Jackson

Coverage on Clean Skincare

Köppen Is the Clean-Beauty Operating System Translated Into Oral Care
Mariko Lin · 5 min

Graph relationships

Timeline

Sources

01
Beautycounter Is Returning As Counter
Beauty Independent

Beautycounter

Tata Harper Skincare

Rhode Skin

Credo Beauty

Köppen Is the Clean-Beauty Operating System Translated Into Oral Care