Into the Gloss, An Editorial Beauty Site, Raises $2M To Build Its Team

The editorial beauty website Into The Gloss has raised $2 million in venture capital funding led by Forerunner and Lerer Ventures, along with several angel investors. Since it was founded in September of 2010, the site has been making waves in the style space for its insider access-type interviews with editors, designers, writers, models, and other creatives about their beauty routines.

Into The Gloss founder and creative director Emily Weiss said that since site’s founding it has been bootstrapped and profitable, mainly from advertising partnerships (the site runs both sidebar ads and sponsored content).

The team currently comprises five people, and this infusion of cash will largely go toward making eight to ten hires across editorial, tech, and design, Weiss said.

Although it may not be well known to most TechCrunch readers, Into The Gloss has been making waves in the fashion space for its sophisticated approach to beauty coverage that in many ways translates print aesthetics and taste into an effective online format. Unsurprising given that Weiss and Editorial Director Nick Axelrod came to the venture from Vogue and Elle, respectively.

What began as three or four posts a week has become roughly three per day — not exactly a high volume site, but Weiss has said before that quality over quantity has always been the aim. Unlike editorial sites that run on a blogger’s news cycle, Into The Gloss focuses more on original, evergreen content that usually involves a photo shoot and an interview. A rundown of model Arizona Muse’s favorite products, or a liquid liner how-to from Nasty Gal’s Makeup Artist in Chief, Stacey Nishimoto.

When the site Refinery29 raised venture capital funding, they were en route to becoming a major media company. Refinery is now ranked by Inc. as the fastest growing media company in the United States, having done $16.6 million in revenue in 2012.

I asked Weiss if Into The Gloss was going in a similar direction.

“Though Into The Gloss began as a blog, we’ve always seen it as a multi-dimensional brand. We have ambitious plans for the future capitalizing on our unique positioning in the beauty landscape.”

The site has been gradually ramping up its volume and range of posts in the last few years. We’ll be watching to see what moves they make in the coming months.