It all started with a hand sanitizer. At the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic, Breitling CEO Georges Kern found himself using more hand soap and hand sanitizer than he’d ever used in his life—just like the rest of us. To help stave off the dryness and irritation that came with increased hand-washing, Kern’s wife Monika introduced him to a growing Swiss skin care brand called Soeder , known for using natural ingredients and its products’ decadent, earthy scents.
And it wasn’t long before he met the people behind the brand. “By chance, through I don’t know how many different connections, I got to understand that they were looking to expand and that they would [need to] increase capital,” Kern said during a recent Zoom call. “And then I met the founders, and I like them a lot.
They have a very clear idea of what the brand should be. I think it has huge potential.” On Thursday, Kern announced that he’s taking his relationship with Soeder to a new level.
No longer satisfied to be just another customer, Kern led a round of funding to help the brand’s co-founders, couple Johan and Hanna Olzon-Åkerström, and its chairman Konrad Bergström, expand the brand. (The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but in a conversation with Robb Report , all four of the major stakeholders seemed to be pretty happy about it.) To prepare for future growth, the brand has already built a larger factory, which enables it to keep tight control of quality and to increase how ma.