Willow Funding, Investors & Competitors

Essity is a health and hygiene company spun out of Svenska Cellulosa in June 2017. Essity's products span the feminine care, baby care, toilet paper, facial tissue, and wet wipes categories, as well as hand soap, hand sanitizers, and tissue dispensers for institutional customers. Essity also offers medical solutions in the form of wound care, orthopedics, and compression therapy, accounting for around 8% of net sales. Essity operates in 150 markets and generates 60% of its revenue in Europe.

Focusing on personal hygiene products utilizing nonwoven fabric, Unicharm is the largest manufacturer of disposable baby diapers and feminine sanitary and adult incontinence products in Japan and Asia. Its personal care business accounted for around 80% of its sales as of 2024, with the balance mainly from pet care. Unicharm generates 66% sales from overseas, of which nearly three-fourths are from Asia, mostly China, Indonesia, and Thailand. India is the fastest-growing market, followed by Vietnam. Outside Asia, Unicharm operates in Saudi Arabia, the Americas, and Europe. Drugstores, supermarkets, baby product specialty stores, and e-commerce are the key sales channels.

Tiger Brands Ltd is an African producer and distributor of branded food, beverage, home, and personal care products. Its operations are predominantly in Southern Africa, with additional market presence in other parts of the African continent through exports. The company's reportable product segments are Milling and Baking, Grains, Culinary, Snacks, Treats and Beverages, Home, Personal and Baby Care. The company derives the majority of revenue from the product sales of the Culinary segment, which includes canned fruit and vegetables, condiments and ingredients, spreads, baby nutrition and Davita exports.

Mamaearth is a Gurugram-based personal care brand offering toxin-free products for babies, mothers, and skincare. The portfolio includes shampoos, lotions, and diaper rash creams formulated with natural ingredients like oatmeal, aloe vera, and calendula. Certified by Made Safe, Mamaearth sells through e-commerce platforms Flipkart and Amazon India, as well as physical stores nationwide. Part of Honasa Consumer Ltd., listed on Indian stock exchanges since 2023.

Apple is among the largest companies in the world, with a broad portfolio of hardware and software products targeted at consumers and businesses. Apple’s iPhone makes up a majority of the firm sales, and Apple’s other products like Mac, iPad, and Watch are designed around the iPhone as the focal point of an expansive software ecosystem. Apple has progressively worked to add new applications, like streaming video, subscription bundles, and augmented reality. The firm designs its own software and semiconductors while working with subcontractors like Foxconn and TSMC to build its products and chips. Slightly less than half of Apple’s sales come directly through its flagship stores, with a majority of sales coming indirectly through partnerships and distribution.

Samsung Electronics is a diversified electronics conglomerate that manufactures and sells a wide range of products including smartphones, televisions, home appliances, telecommunications network equipment, as well as electronic and device components such as semiconductors and flat panel displays. Samsung is the world's largest manufacturer of smartphones and televisions as well as memory semiconductor products. The Manufacturing and sale of mobile phones and semiconductors make up >70% of both the company’s revenue as well as its profit.

AbbVie is a pharmaceutical firm with a strong exposure to immunology (with Humira, Skyrizi, and Rinvoq) and oncology (with Imbruvica and Venclexta). The company was spun off from Abbott in early 2013. The 2020 acquisition of Allergan added several new products and drugs in aesthetics, including Botox. The 2024 acquisitions of Cerevel (neuroscience) and ImmunoGen (oncology) help supplement AbbVie's portfolio.

Since its founding in 1837, Procter & Gamble has become one of the world's largest consumer product manufacturers, with annual sales of nearly $85 billion. It operates with a lineup of leading brands, including more than 20 that generate annual global sales of more than $1 billion each, such as Tide laundry detergent, Charmin toilet paper, Pantene shampoo, and Pampers diapers. Sales outside its home turf represent just more than half of the firm's consolidated total.

L’Oréal is the largest beauty product maker in the world, with consumer products (37% of sales) and luxury beauty (35%) the major segments, followed by derma skin care (16%) and professional products (12%). The firm also has a diversified geographic footprint, generating 34% of sales in Europe, 27% from North America, 23% in North Asia, and the rest from various emerging markets across South Asia, Latin America, and Africa. L’Oréal owns a mix of premium and mass beauty brands sold through a wide range of channels such as mass retail, drugstores, department stores, travel retail, e-commerce, hair salons, and medi-spas. Leading brands include Lancôme, Yves Saint Laurent, Maybelline, Kiehl’s, L’Oréal Paris, Kerastase, CeraVe, Garnier, and Armani.

With roughly one-third of the global branded diabetes treatment market, Novo Nordisk is the leading provider of diabetes care products in the world. Based in Denmark, the company manufactures and markets a variety of human and modern insulins, injectable diabetes treatments such as GLP-1 therapy, oral antidiabetic agents, and obesity treatments. Novo also has a biopharmaceutical segment (contributing less than 10% of revenue) that specializes in protein therapies for hemophilia and other disorders.

Unilever is a diversified beauty, wellbeing, and personal care (44% of 2024 sales by value), homecare (20%), and packaged food (36%) company. Its brands include Dove personal-care products, Knorr soups and sauces, Hellmann's mayonnaise, Axe and Rexona deodorants, and TRESemme haircare. The firm has been acquisitive in recent years; notable purchases include Paula's Choice, Liquid I.V., Horlicks, and Wild deodorants. The company derives 58% of its sales from emerging markets and 42% from developed markets. The US is its largest market, accounting for around 20% of sales, followed by India, which accounts for 11% of sales.

EssilorLuxottica is a combination of the leading manufacturer of premium frames and sunglasses and the leading manufacturer of optical lenses. Both companies are significantly larger than the next biggest competitor and command over 15% of the fragmented global eyewear market. The company has a broad geographical presence, with around 37% of sales in Europe, 45% in North America, and the rest in Asia and Latin America.

Since its founding in 1806, Colgate-Palmolive has grown into a leading player in the household and personal care industry. In addition to its namesake oral care line (which accounts for more than 40% of its total sales), the firm manufactures shampoos, shower gels, deodorants, and home care products sold in over 200 countries. International sales account for about 70% of its total business, including approximately 45% from emerging regions. It also owns specialty pet food maker Hill's (around one-fifth of sales), which sells a majority of its products through veterinarians and specialty pet retailers.

Bayer is a German healthcare and agriculture conglomerate. Healthcare provides close to half of the company's sales and includes pharmaceutical drugs (39% of total sales in 2024) as well as vitamins and other consumer healthcare products (13% of total). The firm's crop science business (49% of total) sells seeds, pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides, which was expanded through its 2018 acquisition of Monsanto.

Garmin produces GPS-enabled hardware and software for five sectors: fitness, outdoors, automotive, aviation, and marine. Garmin has built a strong reputation for durable, high-precision devices through a vertically integrated design and manufacturing approach. The company’s product lines include smartwatches, fitness trackers, communication equipment, and a comprehensive suite of systems for marine and aviation navigation. Garmin operates globally, with its business focused primarily on North America and Europe.

Oura is a Helsinki-headquartered company founded in 2013 that manufactures the Oura Ring Gen3, a finger-worn sensor tracking heart rate, blood oxygen, temperature, and sleep stages. The companion app delivers readiness, activity, and recovery scores used by professional athletes and over 10 million app downloads worldwide. Available in the US, Europe, and Asia through direct sales and retailers like Best Buy.

WHOOP offers a wearable performance optimization system with the WHOOP Strap 3.0 that monitors physiological data continuously. It tracks strain, recovery, and sleep for athletes, coaches, and teams to optimize training, prevent injuries, and forecast performance. Boston-headquartered WHOOP serves elite sports professionals, military units, and fitness enthusiasts with actionable insights from 24/7 heart rate variability, respiratory rate, and resting heart rate metrics.

Labs is a Santa Monica, California-headquartered holding company overseeing labs in AI, immersive realities, blockchain, and human enhancement technologies. Restructured in 2025 from LavLabs Inc., it manages entities like Labs Intelligence, Labs Realities, and Labs Crypto, alongside brands such as Yuhmmy for social-taste experiences. The firm supports ecosystems in finance, realty, education, and entertainment through its family of specialized labs.