THG Beauty, also known as The Hut Group, snapped up the brand for $20 million in a bankruptcy auction marked by what Matthew Moulding, founder and CEO of the British e-commerce company, described as lackluster enthusiasm. “Usually, there’d be a queue of buyers for a brand like Biossance — a large, premium, clean chemistry brand, with sustainability at its core,” he said in a recent LinkedIn post. “Over 50% of sales are generated from Biossance’s own website, and it has a major US store agreement with SEPHORA. But buyer interest was minimal. The only other serious bidder was a US PE firm.”

Despite the poor reception, Moulding is convinced Biossance can have a positive impact on The Hut Group. “Biossance should be immediately breakeven in THG,” he wrote. “Our US and UK labs will support with manufacturing, and [e-commerce platform] THG Ingenuity immediately brings both a new global website & distribution.”

Biossance was widely considered to be the most valuable asset in biotechnology parent company Amyris’s consumer brand portfolio, with its 2022 revenues closing in on $100 million. In addition to Sephora, the skincare brand secured retail partnerships with Sephora UK, Douglas, Selfridges, Harrods, Space NK, Cult Beauty and Lookfantastic, the latter two of which are owned by The Hut Group. However, spiraling costs eroded the brand’s sales significantly, and it incurred $90 million in losses last year, per Moulding’s post.

Amyris filed for bankruptcy in August, putting the brands Biossance, JVN, Rose Inc, Pipette, Menolabs, 4U By Tia and Stripes on the chopping block. Other assets, including Teresana, Olika, EcoFabulous, Pure Cane, Beauty Labs, Costa Brazil and Onda Beauty, were shuttered ahead of the filing.

The clean beauty retailer Onda Beauty reopened in October after co-founder Larissa Thomson purchased it for $220,000. The same month, the publication The Business of Fashion reported that Costa Brazil founder Francisco Costa’s company FCIP Holdco made a bid to buy back the eco-friendly fragrance and body care brand for $350,000.

Along with The Hut Group, Scent Theory Products purchased Tia Mowry-linked haircare brand 4U By Tia out of auction for $600,000, Dr. Reddy’s Labs scooped up menopause product specialist Menolabs for $3 million and HRB Brands nabbed mom and baby skincare brand Pipette for $1.75 million. The fates of Jonathan van Ness-affiliated haircare brand JVN, Naomi Watts-affiliated menopause solution brand Stripes and Rose Huntington-Whiteley-affiliated cosmetics brand Rose Inc remain unclear.

THG Beauty’s sluggish sales and rising costs have pushed it to lower sales guidance for the year. Its pre-tax losses were 133 million pounds or approximately $167.4 million in the period ending June 30, an uptick from 108 million pounds or approximately $135.9 million in the same year-ago period. Its revenue for the period was down 9.3% to about 969 million pounds or approximately $1.2 billion. Operating losses soared 261% in 2022, totaling 495 million pounds or approximately $622.9 million.

In addition to online beauty retailers Cult Beauty and Lookfantastic, THG Beauty owns Dermstore, SkinStore, Eyeko, Illamasqua, Espa, Glossybox, Grow Gorgeous, Ameliorate, Acheson & Acheson, RY, Christophe Robin and Perricone MD. The company’s website estimates that it sells 1,300 premium beauty brands in the skincare, haircare, cosmetics and fragrance categories across 195 territories.

As Biossance integrates with its new owner, we were curious about the beauty industry’s reaction to the deal. So, for the latest edition of our ongoing series posing questions relevant to indie beauty, we asked nine investors, strategists and brand builders the following questions: What’s your take on The Hut Group acquiring Biossance? Will it help to resuscitate its business? What company will scoop up JVN, Rose Inc and Stripes, and what does interest or lack thereof in these brands say about the state of celebrity beauty brands?