Actress Jessica Alba is working with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley on an initial public offering.
Honest Co. is a Santa Monica, California-based online shopping startup co-founded by Alba and entrepreneur Brian Lee in 2011. The baby-and-beauty-products retailer was valued at about $1.7 billion based on a funding round last year, Bloomberg reported on Friday.
"Delivering a product and executing an idea from A to Z is an uphill battle and an evolving process," Jessica Alba told MarketWatch. I don't believe in doing things a certain way just because they've always been done that way. Process is helpful to give you benchmarks and guidelines but isn't the only path you need to take. While I appreciate it, we try as a company to approach developing an idea into a product with a more open outlook.
"The most surprising part of starting my own company has been how much I have to listen to my intuition and trust my gut. I didn't realize how much entrepreneurs rely on that."
Alba told Marketwatch that she made most of her mistakes when she was young.
"I've been working since I was a kid, so my approach to making and saving money has definitely evolved from the days of keeping money under the mattress. I've never been comfortable without a plan for income and money in the bank. I tend toward the frugal, so I'd say that, if anything, I could probably learn to be more comfortable with risk," she said.
"Alba has been able to leverage her celebrity to throw the company into the limelight, garnering attention for her environmental and social goals," Business Insider's Maya Kosoff wrote.
Since Alba helped start the eco-friendly Honest Co. in 2011, the company expanded from selling natural baby products to home cleaning and beauty items online and in stores, including Target Corp. and Whole Foods Market Inc.
The company's backers include Fidelity Management & Research Co., General Catalyst Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Wellington Management. Goldman Sachs declined to comment. Honest and Morgan Stanley were not immediately available for comment. Spokespeople for Honest Co. and the investment banks declined to comment, the report said.
Technology companies avoided public markets last year, with the help of large private funding rounds that totaled $51 billion, according to research firm CB Insights. A funding round last year valued Honest Co. at about $1.7 billion.
