Kindly do not forward. If there’s someone that you believe should be part of the Palette family, we’d love to be introduced.
Hi there,
We hope you were able to enjoy the holidays with family and friends. For us, Q4 was a whirlwind.
Palette closed three deals across November and December, and the timing wasn’t accidental: companies we’d been tracking for 6–12 months moved decisively as sentiment strengthened and buyers leaned back in after 2025 proved to be a true inflection year for consumer. This wasn’t a spray-and-pray market. Founders stopped chasing nice-to-haves and doubled down on what consumers actually want, need, and will pay for again and again: real value, proven efficacy, and flawless execution.
The macro supported it too: U.S. GDP growth surprised, e-commerce continued to compound at structurally higher levels, and AI quietly became table stakes across commerce, marketing, supply chain, and CX. We saw the same patterns repeat across categories: better-for-you nutrition moving from niche to default, beauty shifting from aspirational to results-driven, tech infiltrating the home in utility-first ways, and health reframing itself from reactive and pharmaceutical to preventative and holistic.
And the exit market rewarded that discipline. In Q4 2025, strategics and PE paid up for brands that cracked these trends early: Coterie sold to Mammoth Brands for $1B+, General Atlantic made a ****strategic investment into OSEA Malibu, BYOMA landed with Bansk Group, Coty exited Wella Company to KKR at a ~$2.9B implied valuation, Campbell's doubled down on Rao’s (purchased for $2.7bn) via acquisition of it’s coman, La Regina, for $286m for 49% stake. These weren’t speculative bets; they were confirmations. Buyers paid for brands with traction, capital efficiency, and operational excellence, often supercharged behind the scenes by AI-enabled commerce. That’s why 2025 felt less like a rebound and more like a reset to fundamentals.
2026 is shaping up to be even stronger. The playbook is clear, the buyers are motivated, and the next generation of enduring consumer platforms is being built right now, with intention.
Rana & Nina
We invest in the 70% of GDP shaped by where consumers spend their time, money, and attention. Thesis-led and forward-looking, we back the behavioral shifts defining the next generation. A warm welcome to our newest portfolio companies:
Iota Body Care is pioneering nutritional bodycare: a new category grounded in the science of the skin microbiome and its role in whole-body health. Iota integrates a proprietary blend of microbiome-balancing prebiotics and postbiotics with a comprehensive matrix of multivitamins, minerals, and clinically studied actives.
Founded by husband-and-wife team Monique Menses and Ray Kim, Iota has scaled with extraordinary efficiency: a two-person team and only $300K raised. Despite limited resources and minimal paid marketing until 2023, the brand has expanded from four initial SKUs to eight permanent offerings and seasonal limited time offerings. Today, Iota is sold through ~50 retail partners including Credo Beauty, Thrive Market, and a fast-growing DTC subscription base. The next phase includes national rollouts into Ulta Beauty (~820 doors) and Nordstrom (~90 doors) this spring, positioning Iota to lead the emerging category at the intersection of microbiome science, personal care, and systemic wellness.
Palette invested alongside Touch Capital, Sidekick Partners, and Era VC.
The Consumer Shift we’re Backing
→ A shift to wellness, better ingredients, and ritualistic self care in all parts of our lives.
Float (soon rebranding as Burst) exists to make financial systems work better for people. Its agentic AI lets consumers automatically use their pre-tax FSA and HSA dollars for eligible health and wellness purchases via instant reimbursement, saving up to 40% through autonomous AI and compliance.