Hello Klean raises £1.5m to expand internationally and develop filtration technology
This article covers Hello Klean, the London-based water-first beauty startup, which has raised £1.5m in debt financing to fund international expansion and further develop its filtration technology. The financing is intended to support inventory and retail growth across Europe and the Middle East and to scale a subscription-driven, founder-owned business model.
Hello Klean, the London-based water-first beauty brand, has raised £1.5 million in debt financing to fund international expansion and further develop its filtration technology. The deal underpins a business model that is founder-owned, profitable and heavily subscription-driven — a combination that matters for consumer brands seeking growth without diluting ownership.
Why it matters
Hello Klean targets a practical but overlooked intersection of personal care and environmental exposure: hard water, chlorine and heavy metals affecting hair and skin. As consumers become more aware of water quality, brands that combine tangible product innovation with recurring revenue and careful capital management can scale internationally without taking venture capital.
The company reports more than one million products sold, over 70% of revenue from subscriptions and monthly retention above 97%. Those metrics signal predictable cash flow that supports inventory planning and reduces reliance on equity funding, a model increasingly visible among capital-efficient consumer companies.
Inside the product
Hello Klean’s core offering pairs shower filters with hair and body formulations designed to work alongside those filters. Products were developed through design thinking and laboratory testing and aim to be integrated into everyday routines rather than treated as occasional treatments.
Retail distribution now includes Selfridges, Cult Beauty, Sephora UK, Harvey Nichols and Ounass in the Gulf Cooperation Council region. Each placement gives the brand access to different customer segments: premium department store shoppers, beauty e-commerce audiences, and regional retail channels in the Middle East that can accelerate international reach.
Planned uses for the funding focus on working capital for inventory, strengthening existing retail channels, entering new European and Middle Eastern markets, and advancing the company’s filtration technology and future product development.
Who are the investors?
The financing was provided as debt and led by re:cap, a Berlin-founded platform that supplies debt capital and automated financial tools across Germany, the Netherlands and the UK. re:cap’s platform positions itself to help companies manage liquidity, build forecasts and plan financing needs using real-time data. The platform is backed by Entrée Capital, Felix Capital, Project A and Mubadala Capital.
Paul Becker, CEO and co-founder at re:cap, said:
Hello Klean has achieved what few consumer brands manage to do. They scaled to over a million units sold while staying profitable and retaining full ownership. Their strong fundamentals made it possible to explore different growth scenarios on our platform and shape a funding plan that aligns strategy with capital. We are excited to support them as they expand globally.
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Founder perspective
Hello Klean was founded in 2019 by Karlee Ozener and later joined by co-founder and CEO Omer Ozener. The brand began as a self-funded project using around £75,000 of personal savings and has purposely avoided outside equity investment.
Omer Ozener, co-founder and CEO of Hello Klean, said:
We built Hello Klean to over 1 million sold products without taking on venture capital because our unit economics allowed it. This partnership with re:cap gives us leverage to scale inventory and international operations while maintaining ownership. Most consumer brands burn cash to grow, we grew profitably first, then added fuel.
Operationally the founders ran product development, marketing and operations themselves for several years and hired their first full-time employee in 2024. A feature on BBC Dragons’ Den produced a 700 per cent surge in orders that accelerated hiring and expansion. The team has since grown to around 20 people, with plans to reach 30 as new products and markets are introduced.
The bigger picture
Hello Klean’s financing illustrates a broader trend in UK and European consumer and health-focused brands: using debt to lever predictable revenue streams while preserving founder ownership. For businesses with strong unit economics and subscription models, debt can be an efficient alternative to early-stage equity.
The move also highlights rising consumer interest in products that address environmental determinants of health, such as water quality. For the UK ecosystem, the deal is a reminder that profitable, founder-led companies can still access growth capital to internationalise without ceding control — a path that may increasingly attract healthtech investors and other capital providers looking for lower-risk consumer opportunities.
As Hello Klean expands into new European markets and the Middle East, its progress will be watched by retailers, investors and consumer health entrepreneurs testing the limits of subscription-driven, founder-owned growth.
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