private industry consumer packaged goods founded july 2011 2011 07 founder michael dubin and mark levine headquarters venice california area served united states canada and australia products blades the humble twin the 4x the executive dr. carver s shave butter post shave repair serum boogie s hair care gel clay cream fiber paste pomade other one wipe charlies parent unilever website www.dollarshaveclub.com dollar shave club is a venice california based company that delivers razors and other personal grooming products straight to consumers by mail . 1 the company positions itself as a cost effective and convenient alternative to retail chains . it delivers razor blades on a monthly basis and offers additional grooming products for home delivery . 2 3 contents 1 history 2 membership 3 products 4 promotion 5 references 6 external links history edit dollar shave club was founded by mark levine and michael dubin . the pair met at a party and spoke of their frustrations with the cost of razor blades . with their own money and investments from start up incubator science inc. they began operations in july 2011 . 4 5 6 7 dollar shave club is backed by a variety of venture capitalists . in march 2012 seed investors provided 1 million in funding from groups that included felicis ventures kleiner perkins caufield & byers andreessen horowitz shasta ventures white star capital and forerunner ventures . 8 the same group joined by venrock provided 9.8 million in series a funding in october 2012 . 9 a year later a 12 million series b round was raised led by venrock comcast ventures new world investors and battery ventures . amidst the fundraising announcement dollar shave club announced it would be expanding its product line to include a dozen other men s products in 2014 . 10 in june 2015 the company secured 75 million in series d funding . 11 on july 19 2016 dollar shave club was acquired by unilever for a reported 1 billion in cash . 12 membership edit the initial welcome packet from dollar shave club . dollar shave club offers three membership plans which can be upgraded or downgraded at any time . 13 the membership service first launched march 6 2012 via a youtube video that went viral . 14 the youtube video attracted an unanticipated amount of traffic that crashed the company s server in the first hour . once dubin got the server working he enlisted a team of friends and contractors to help fulfill the 12 000 orders that arrived in the first 48 hours of launching the video . the orders were initially packed by hand in a warehouse in gardena california before the company moved their warehouse and fulfillment to a third party logistics center in kentucky . 1 since the membership launch the company has acquired 2 million subscribers . 11 although the company primarily markets its products to men approximately 20 percent of its customers are women . 15 products edit dollar shave club offers three plans the humble twin two blades per razor five razors per month 3 per month the 4x four blades four razors 6 and the executive six blades four razors 9 . 16 17 each subscription comes with a free compatible handle . 17 in april 2013 dollar shave club launched their second product dr. carver s easy shave butter a transparent pre shave product for members with sensitive skin . 18 in june 2013 the company launched a line of wet wipes targeted at men called one wipe charlies . 6 both the shave butter and one wipe charlies are proprietary products created by dollar shave club . in late 2012 the club launched in canada and australia with other international markets coming in the future . 19 20 dollar shave club launched dr. carver s magnanimous post shave all in one daily moisturizer in 2014 . 21 in march 2015 the company announced it was expanding its product line to include hair care products called boogie s. 22 the club unveiled boogie s match a personalized product finder tool that asks members a series of hair styling questions to customize product recommendations . 23 the line includes hair gel hair cream hair paste hair clay and hair fiber . 24 in may 2015 the company began hiring writers and editors for a new website mel magazine which went online in late 2015 . the website contains editorial content described by the company as men s lifestyle topics . 25 26 in december 2015 gillette filed a patent infringement lawsuit that claimed dollar shave club used its patented formulas to manufacture copycat blades . 27 28 promotion edit on march 6 2012 the company uploaded a youtube video entitled our blades are f ing great featuring ceo michael dubin delivering his speech in a nonchalant and sarcastic manner . 29 the video prompted 12 000 orders in a two day span after it was released and has received over 22 million views as of march 2016 . 2 30 the video won best out of nowhere video campaign at the 2012 adage viral video awards . 31 dollar shave club was awarded a 2013 webby award in the fashion & beauty category 32 and earned the people s choice webby award in the consumer packaged goods category . 33 on june 4 2013 dollar shave club released a second video on youtube called let s talk about 2 which again starred its ceo and promoted one wipe charlies . 6 the video won the shorty award in 2014 for best use of social media . 34 in 2014 dollar shave club and its one wipe charlies teamed up with the colon cancer alliance in an effort to help wipe out colon cancer . 35 the company reports that during national colorectal cancer awareness month it reached 23 million people in spreading the message about the importance of getting screened . the company also donated 10 000 to the colon cancer alliance contributing a percentage of one wipe charlies sales and putting a dollar value on social shares . 36 as part of the campaign michael dubin had his own colonoscopy streamed live online . 37 references edit a b dahl darren april 11 2013 . riding the momentum created by a cheeky video . the new york times . retrieved august 18 2014 . a b naziri jessica august 16 2013 . dollar shave club co founder michael dubin had a smooth transition . los angeles times . retrieved april 28 2014 . man trades clothes for a razor in dollar shave club spot . adage . retrieved june 7 2015 . glazer emily 2012 04 12 . a david and gillette story . wall street journal . retrieved 2012 09 12 . dollar shave club a start up s viral ad for f ing great razors is a big hit . time.com . 2012 03 12 . retrieved 2012 03 19 . a b c colao j.j. dollar shave club breaking the razor blade monopoly . forbes . retrieved april 30 2014 . jewish daily forward jewish buddies who founded dollar shave club cash in with 1b unilever deal by laura e. adkins july 20 2016 o dell j. dollar shave club s blades are so f cking great they just raised a round for em . venture beat . retrieved april 29 2014 . chapman lizette . dollar shave club picks up 10m to grow beyond razors . dow jones . retrieved april 30 2014 . truong alex. dollar shave club raises 12 million to offer more grooming products . fast company . retrieved april 30 2014 . a b dave paresh june 22 2015 . up to 2 million members dollar shave club worth 615 million investors say . los angeles times . retrieved july 2 2015 . unilever buys dollar shave club for 1 billion . fortune . 2016 07 19 . retrieved 2016 07 19 . sadasivam krishna . review the dollar shave club . the pc weenies . retrieved august 18 2014 . janjigian robert . small beauty renegades make headway amid giants . palm beach daily news . retrieved august 18 2014 . stock kyle . dollar shave plots to take over your bathroom . bloomberg businessweek . retrieved august 18 2014 . our blades . dollar shave club . retrieved 30 november 2015 . a b maurer tim . revolutionary retail test driving warby parker and dollar shave club . forbes . retrieved april 30 2014 . carney michael . not just razors anymore dollar shave club introduces wet wipes for your other sensitive areas . pando daily . retrieved may 1 2014 . mitroff sarah november 2 2012 . 10 million shave club discount razor service is a hit with investors . wired . retrieved may 1 2014 . mitchell sue . our wipes are f ing great how dollar shave club s michael dubin plans to own the man in the bathroom with us12m in new funding . brw . retrieved april 30 2014 . neff jack . dollar shave club goes upscale with 9 moisturizer . ad age . retrieved august 18 2014 . ha anthony . now dollar shave club sells hair gel too . techcrunch . retrieved april 13 2015 . benedicto klich tanya . how the beauty industry continues to crack the bro code . entrepreneur . retrieved april 13 2015 . dollar shave club adds hair care . happi . 25 march 2015 . perlberg steven 11 november 2015 . dollar shave club launches men s interest editorial destination called mel . wall street journal . retrieved 29 september 2016 . marshall jack ; perlberg steven 14 may 2015 . mattress company hires journalists . wall street journal . retrieved 29 september 2016 . woolhouse megan 2015 12 18 . gillette sues dollar shave club for patent infringement . the boston globe . retrieved 2015 12 18 . harwell drew 18 december 2015 . gillette s lawsuit could tilt the battle for america s beards . washington post . retrieved 19 december 2015 . kaye kate . why youtube darling dollar shave club is buying tv ads . advertisingage . retrieved april 30 2014 . dollarshaveclub.com our blades are f ing great . youtube . retrieved october 10 2014 . google takes top honors at viral video awards . adage . 2012 04 17 . retrieved 2012 09 12 . webby awards fashion & beauty . webby awards . 2013 05 22 . retrieved 2013 06 13 . webby awards consumer packaged goods . webby awards . 2013 05 22 . retrieved 2013 06 13 . best use of social media for retail or e commerce . shorty awards . retrieved april 30 2014 . dollar shave club . colon cancer alliance . retrieved may 1 2014 . we reached 23 million people . dollar shave club . retrieved may 1 2014 . neporent liz . man live tweets his colonoscopy . abc news . retrieved may 1 2014 . external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title dollar shave club & oldid 743512097 categories personal care brandsamerican companies established in 2011american brandscompanies based in los angeles2011 establishments in californiaunilever companieshidden categories pages using infobox company with unsupported parameters navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 10 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