Thrive Capitol Formed with Right Guard & Dry Idea Deodorants Acquisition

Thriving Brands LLC, a newly formed company based in Dallas, TX, has acquired Right Guard and Dry Idea antiperspirant and deodorant brands from Henkel Corporation. 

Trive Capital, a Dallas-based private equity firm, has formed Thriving Brands LLC  in partnership with industry executives Craig Cappozzo and Rolando Collado 

Launched in 1960, Right Guard is a well-known name in the men's grooming segment with strong brand equity based on a long history of product innovation. The brand primarily serves the men's antiperspirant and deodorant categories globally, but also competes in personal cleansing in select geographies. Dry Idea was founded in 1978 and largely serves the women's APDO category in the US, Canada, Australia, and neighboring geographies.

The deodorant marketplace has become much more competitive in recent years as indie brands have entered the space to compete against long-standing brands. Leaders in the indie movement like Native and Schmidt's have since been acquired by bigger companies like P&G and Unilever, respectively.

Cappozzo and Collado are industry leaders with more than 60 years of combined experience and previously worked together at Procter & Gamble before launching their own consulting and sales organizations. 

Cappozzo has more than 30 years of consumer packaged goods experience, having served in a variety of leadership roles at P&G, and most recently served as co-founder and managing partner of Retail Strategy Partners, a management consulting firm serving a vast breadth of clients in the CPG sector at the c-suite level. Cappozzo will serve as CEO and chief marketing officer for Thriving Brands. 

Collado also brings more than 30 years of CPG experience having served in various leadership roles at P&G, prior to founding and leading OnCall contract sales, which was purchased and became a division of WPP Worldwide.  Collado is also co-founder and served as CEO of Promoveo Health, a contract sales organization serving a wide array of CPG clients mostly in the health and personal care categories. Collado will serve as COO and chief sales officer.

“We are thrilled to partner with Trive Capital, and to lead the Thriving Brands Company.  Together with Trive, we have an aggressive but disciplined growth agenda for the company, focused on buying and building brands in the Personal Health and Hygiene categories, with brands that compete predominantly in the Americas and Western Europe,” said Cappozzo. “We have an exceptional group of seasoned functional leaders and experts who we are confident can help us build an exciting company that finds new ways to create value for our consumers, customers, and investors.”