1. Founding Story: Where Luxury Meets Soil
In 2014, three visionaries—Abbott Stark (a product formulation wizard), Mark Rice (a luxury fashion veteran from John Galliano Paris), and Alex Stark (an operations strategist) came together over a shared frustration: the beauty industry’s false promise of “clean” products. At that moment, a jojoba oil shortage exposed how many brands relied on synthetic fillers. Determined to make a change, they took a bold step. With just $6,000 and a mission, they launched Ogee Organic Skincare from a 19th-century Vermont tincture factory, blending NSF-certified organic ingredients seamlessly with runway-worthy packaging.
Funding Journey: Ogee Organic Skincare
- 2017: $1M seed round (FreshTracks Capital)
- 2022: $7.07M Series A (Birchview Capital)
- Bootstrapped early on, using personal savings and small investor networks.