Ancient + Brave: Meet the female-led wellness brand breaking down barriers
Sitting at the kitchen table with three things in mind – profit, people and the planet – Kate Prince discovered the perfect way to combine her passion for sustainability, creativity and female empowerment into one.
But the idea for her Sussex-based wellness brand Ancient + Brave in 2018, now most well known for its “pure, potent and sustainable” dietary supplements, was just the beginning of a rapid-growing business journey.
Ancient + Brave, a brand that has seen 700 per cent growth year-on-year from 2022 to 2023, was one of the just 3.5 per cent of start-ups led by women to receive equity investment – £7m from consumer investor Piper – in the first half of 2023.
In 2023 alone, it had anticipated – and achieved – a turnover of £10m.
What is it that makes Ancient + Brave different from the rest of the wellness brand trends?
It didn’t happen overnight…
Creating the next generation of sustainable supplements wasn’t Prince’s first career choice, given that she spent much of her life preparing to be a lawyer.
She began her career moving through various positions in international and media law, eventually realising the day-to-day just wasn’t for her.
The big break? Wanting to stray from the too “corporate”, “male” and “hierarchical” industry she found herself in.
“This just doesn’t feel like who I am or where I want to be,” she recalled thinking to herself.
Defeating the fear and taking the leap that many entrepreneurs do when they begin to stray from their day job, Prince got to work, first co-founding the Prince & Sons Tea brand with her husband.
But she wanted to act even more on her new-found love for brand creation and healthy lifestyles, prompting her to start her own.
Ancient + Brave’s products are not just pills to take and shove away in the cupboard, Prince said, as she works with in-house nutritionists and designers to make sure each and every label is “perfected” for every consumers’ in-home display.
And she spends much of her personal time to still make it happen, even though the business, and team, continues to grow.
“I’m pretty obsessed that we use absolutely the best, sustainable, brilliant packaging in the world. That we make it look and feel beautiful so it feels part of your daily ritual,” Prince said.
But what was needed the most? A mission-driven objective and the “perfect” amount of balance.
Sustainable business growth
To become a B Corporation, a business must prove it prioritises its social and environmental impact as much as its financial success through a rigorous assessment process – which is no easy task, Prince said.
Now, Ancient + Brave is one of the highest scoring wellness brands on the B Corp impact assessment and dedicated to giving 1 per cent of everything sold to environmental causes.
It takes a lot of work – balancing profit, people and the planet – and it’s something she couldn’t do without her team, the ones who are “outpacing and outgrowing” her every day.
“It’s always about hiring people who are better than you, and if you do that, we’re all growing and we’re all raising each other’s standards,” Prince said.
But surely an all-female founding team wasn’t just a coincidence.
“I think an all female team sounds kind of scary to some people, but actually to me it sounds like the most brilliant, beautiful thing in the world and actually works great,” Prince said.
I want to positively influence and build women in business.
Kate Prince
She’s always felt empowered by the female mentors and leaders she’s met throughout her career, so Prince said although a full staff of women wasn’t completely intentional, she doesn’t question how it evolved that way.
She even just hired her first male – a trend she believes could continue.
Building a successful and mission-driven brand becomes “easy” when “you have great people,” Prince said.
“It takes a degree of letting go and a lot of trust in your brand,” she added.
“I couldn’t do what I do every day without them, that’s for sure.”
What’s next?
Currently, Ancient + Brave is distributed across 22 countries, and global expansion is set to continue in the next year, Prince said.
But while launching in new territories is often “exciting and fun,” it takes much more than a launch to make it work.
It takes time: Localising the website, rebranding packaging, and ultimately finding what it is that the consumers in new areas want.
“Being a business is bloody hard, but also incredibly exhilarating,” she said.
Her advice to others who are about to embark on their entrepreneurial journey? Think twice and be prepared.
“As a beginner, you are your only resource,” she said. “You just have to crack on and solve.”