Hamburg — ECO Group, a group of compa­nies focu­sed on sustainable consu­mer goods brands, has inves­ted in the natu­ral cosme­tics brand BEN&ANNA from JM Nature GmbH. The invest­ment was prece­ded by a €7.5 million Series A finan­cing round. The finan­cing round was led by Euro­pean growth inves­tor Acton Capi­tal; exis­ting inves­tor Fair Capi­tal Part­ners also joined the round. — YPOG provi­ded compre­hen­sive legal and tax advice to ECO Group on its invest­ment in the natu­ral cosme­tics brand BEN&ANNA from JM Nature GmbH.

This stra­te­gic step will enable the ECO Group to expand its capa­ci­ties in the area of sustainable consu­mer goods and streng­then its market presence. As part of the tran­sac­tion, ECO Group will also become a share­hol­der in Global Eco Pack GmbH, a manu­fac­tu­rer of pack­a­ging mate­ri­als specia­li­zing in the use of paper instead of plastic.

Foun­ded in Bad Homburg in 2022 by Chris­toph Schwerdtle and Thomas Nehfi­scher, the start-up bund­les sustainable brands such as Hydro­phil, Naiked, Kuno and Herbalind under one roof. The ECO Group pursues the goal of enab­ling healthy and envi­ron­men­tally conscious living through sustainable consu­mer goods. The Group’s growth is based on the ongo­ing deve­lo­p­ment of product inno­va­tions and the acqui­si­tion of sustainable compa­nies in rele­vant cate­go­ries of the consu­mer goods industry.

The entry into BEN&ANNA marks a stra­te­gic, important step in the joint mission to promote sustainable life­styles. BEN&ANNA was foun­ded in 2017 by Marco Hüls­beck and stands for high-quality and vegan natu­ral cosme­tics. The sustainable natu­ral products consist of one hundred percent natu­ral ingre­di­ents, if possi­ble even from orga­nic cultivation.

This move unders­cores the joint commit­ment to redu­cing plas­tic waste while provi­ding inno­va­tive solu­ti­ons for more envi­ron­men­tally friendly packaging.

Consul­tant ECO Group: YPOG

Dr. Martin Scha­per (Lead, Tran­sac­tions), Part­ner, Berlin Pia Meven (Tran­sac­tions), Senior Asso­ciate, Berlin
Rosa Wizisla (Tran­sac­tions), Asso­ciate, Berlin;
Dr. Stefan Witte (Lead, Tran­sac­tions), Asso­cia­ted Part­ner, Hamburg Dr. Martin Scha­per (Co-Lead, Tran­sac­tions), Part­ner, Berlin Johan­nes Schmidt (Tran­sac­tions), Asso­ciate, Hamburg
Boris Schin­zel (Tran­sac­tions), Asso­ciate, Berlin;
Dr. Malte Berg­mann (Tax), Part­ner, Hamburg, Ann-Kris­­tin Loch­mann (Tax), Asso­cia­ted Part­ner, Hamburg