{"id":829,"date":"2020-03-25T14:28:15","date_gmt":"2020-03-25T18:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/?p=829"},"modified":"2024-01-08T16:04:58","modified_gmt":"2024-01-08T21:04:58","slug":"second-nature-raises-16-4m-for-healthy-home-subscription-products-like-air-and-water-filters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.ncsu.edu\/win\/second-nature-raises-16-4m-for-healthy-home-subscription-products-like-air-and-water-filters\/","title":{"rendered":"Second Nature raises $16.4M for \u2018healthy home\u2019 subscription products like air and water filters<\/a>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n

After a confusing trip to the store to purchase an air filter back in 2012, two N.C. State University students, Thad Tarkington and Kevin Barry, came up with the idea to make this routine home maintenance purchase a subscription-based business. The following year, their startup FilterEasy had a few hundred subscribers. Fast forward to now, and that service \u2014 now called\u00a0Second Nature<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 has grown its customer base to hundreds of thousands by expanding beyond its original direct-to-consumer model to also include industry partnerships.<\/p>\n

Today, the N.C. Triangle-area company is announcing it\u2019s closed on $16.4 million in Series C funding from new and existing investors, including strategic investor MANN+HUMMEL through its corporate venture group.<\/p>\n

Other investors in the round include IDEA Fund Partners, Multiplier Capital, Lead Edge Capital, Arsenal Growth, One Better Ventures, Bonaventure Capital, NC State\u2019s investor network WIN and UNC\u2019s investor network CAN.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Second Nature began its life\u00a0solving a common homeowner problem<\/a>: helping people to remember to change the home\u2019s air filter. Often, this is a forgotten task as there\u2019s no built-in reminder or alerting system to signal when the filter\u2019s time is up, unlike some other household products. Your smoke alarms blare when batteries are low. Lightbulbs go dark when it\u2019s time for a change. But air filters just sit there, quietly collecting more dust as your air quality worsens and your energy bill climbs.<\/p>\n

Tarkington says the idea to put air filters on subscription not only made sense as a way to remind homeowners to make the swap, but the model worked for retailers as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a product that\u2019s not really well-suited for retail because they\u2019re large, they take a lot of space and they\u2019re easily damaged,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd generally, you have thousands of different sizes, so a retailer can only serve a certain percentage of the market.\u201d<\/p>\n

The founders soon left college and began to work full-time on the company. They later participated in The Iron Yard accelerator and\u00a0raised $1.2 million in seed funding in 2015<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

While the startup\u2019s customer base of homeowners steadily grew, Second Nature found that it needed more channels than just direct-to-consumer (D2C) alone to increase sales. In the years that followed, the company began working with industry partners, including HVAC companies, real estate agents, utility companies and commercial properties. These categories have contributed to customer growth, but D2C remains the largest so far given its head start.<\/p>\n

MANN+HUMMEL\u2019s recent investment signals where Second Nature is headed next. The company no longer considers itself just an easier way to get your air filters. Instead, it\u2019s now positioning itself as a \u201chome wellness\u201d brand that will eventually encompass a range of products that homeowners need to replace on a recurring basis.<\/p>\n

For starters, this includes Second Nature\u2019s newest product line: water filters.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we started growing, we found that people really appreciated the convenience of [our business],\u201d says Tarkington. Plus, people were starting to talk about other things, like how filters helped with allergies and created a healthier home environment, he notes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw this big trend towards personal care \u2014 like what we put in or on our bodies,\u201d Tarkington explains. \u201cWe spend a lot of time in our homes, so our indoor air quality and what we are drinking, from a water quality perspective, has become very important.\u201d<\/p>\n

It made sense, then, to expand the concept of a \u201chealthy home\u201d to also include water filtration.<\/p>\n

In Q2 2020, Second Nature will launch its first two products in this water filtration space, which will include filters for your refrigerator water. One will be focused on improving the taste, quality and clarity of the water, while the other will be more about filtering out harmful particles from local water systems.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Going forward, the company plans to embrace anything that improves your home\u2019s health, Tarkington says.<\/p>\n

In the more immediate future, however, Second Nature may benefit from increased interest in home health products in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. For example,\u00a0Second Nature\u2019s MERV 13-rated \u201ccatch all\u201d filter<\/a>\u00a0can reduce the odds of you catching the flu or a viral infection when someone in your home is sick. That\u2019s because it\u2019s able to catch about 87% of droplet nuclei that pass through. (To be clear, this is not a COVID-19 preventative; it\u2019s about risk reduction \u2014 like washing your hands or sneezing into your elbow, for example.)<\/p>\n

While some area\u2019s of Second Nature\u2019s business has been significantly impacted by COVID-19 \u2014 like commercial properties where rent may longer be coming in \u2014 Tarkington says business is good overall.<\/p>\n

\u201cGenerally, demand for the product has gone up due to the nature of it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth clarifying, though, that Second Nature isn\u2019t aiming to market towards consumer fears due to the outbreak. Instead, it\u2019s trying to help. The team has coordinated with hospitals to get them donated filtration media for masks, and it is now actively using its manufacturing facility and supply chain to get masks to hospitals in need. It has materials to produce around 800,000 masks on hand and plans to produce up to 2 million masks per month as long as it has the materials.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

COVID-19 isn\u2019t just impacting its production line but also how the business operates. The company today has around 150 employees, two-thirds who work in fulfillment and distribution. To address the threat of COVID-19, Second Nature reorganized its two warehouses (in Ardmore, OK and Wilson, NC) to keep staff separated \u2014 including by creating additional break rooms. It\u2019s also working to ensure all processes stay clean and sanitary. A dedicated team is focused on cleaning the facility, including wiping down doors, handles and other surfaces.<\/p>\n

Second Nature\u2019s additional funding will go towards expanding the businesses and hiring to support its plans for new products, including forthcoming first-party products it has now in R&D. As for what those may be, specifically, Tarkington hints they\u2019ll focus on products where the company can \u201cinnovate and make a product better or a process better \u2014 maybe more environmentally-friendly.\u201d<\/p>\n

To date, Second Nature has raised $18.4 million.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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