When Gyve Safavi and Mark Rushmore first met on a speedboat within the south of France — with promoting tycoon Sir Martin Sorrell additionally on board — few might have predicted that the prospect encounter would spark a £24 million sustainable toothbrush enterprise.
Their model, Suri, now boasts superstar followers together with Sir Jony Ive and the Kardashians, and is stocked by Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop within the US. However behind the glamour lies an unlikely product: an eco-friendly electrical toothbrush designed to finish the issue of sink-side “gunk”.
“Nobody likes that gunk,” says Safavi, 42, pointing to the wall-mountable magnet that retains Suri brushes elevated and clear.
Each males began their careers at Procter & Gamble, engaged on world client manufacturers like Oral-B and Gillette. Years later, Safavi was at WPP and Rushmore operating his personal occasions enterprise when the concept of a sustainable well being and wonder product started to take form.
By 2020, with the pandemic derailing Safavi’s journey plans and Rushmore free after promoting his first firm, the pair reconnected in a London park. Safavi shared an in depth marketing strategy for a toothbrush produced from corn starch, castor oil and aluminium — designed to be repaired or recycled, stripped of pointless gimmicks like Bluetooth, and priced for on a regular basis use.
Rushmore remembers: “That night time I opened the file and it was probably the most detailed, complete analysis, with a lot considering behind every thing. I might see there actually was one thing that, if we mixed our abilities, we might take additional.”
The pair spent lockdown cold-calling 24 producers throughout Asia. Most laughed at their imaginative and prescient. “Effectivity and innovation for a manufacturing facility means making what you already make, sooner and cheaper — not taking a threat with two guys who’ve by no means constructed {hardware},” Safavi says.
Finally, one manufacturing facility in China agreed, they usually raised £800,000 from angel buyers and enterprise capital agency Salica to fund their first 5,000 brushes. Early prototypes have been clunky, however with client testing, design tweaks and sheer persistence, Suri started to take form.
By Might 2022, their first run bought out in three days. A second run bought out in two weeks. Instagram adverts, glowing press evaluations and a £200,000 promoting prize from the Earth Advert Fund amplified demand.
Suri now employs 37 folks and has raised additional funding rounds — £2 million in 2023 and £6 million in 2024, with backers together with JamJar, the enterprise fund based by the Harmless smoothies workforce. Safavi and Rushmore stay the most important shareholders.
However success has not been with out challenges. A logistics error early on left 3,000 US orders stranded as a result of couriers refused to ship objects containing batteries. “For 72 hours, that actually felt existential,” Rushmore admits. “If everybody had demanded refunds, we might have been completed.” As a substitute, they emailed every buyer personally, and most caught by them.
Key promoting factors embody a protracted battery life, a quiet motor, and the much-marketed wall-mount magnet. Prospects are additionally inspired to return brushes for restore or recycling. Safavi says their philosophy is easy: “Deal with what folks really use, and lower the remaining.”
Their efforts have been recognised by trade figures, not least design icon Sir Jony Ive, who texted his approval of the comb late one night time. “We have been laughing like two little children,” Safavi remembers.
Each founders acknowledge the private toll of start-up life, crediting their wives as “unsung heroes” who shouldered the household load whereas they labored 18-hour days with out wage.
From an opportunity assembly on a ship to a fast-growing model disrupting Oral-B and Philips, Suri’s story reveals how two buddies tackled the neglected ache factors of toothbrush design and turned them right into a multimillion-pound enterprise.
Paul Jones
Harvard alumni and former New York Occasions journalist. Editor of Enterprise Issues for over 15 years, the UKs largest enterprise journal. I’m additionally head of Capital Enterprise Media’s automotive division working for shoppers resembling Pink Bull Racing, Honda, Aston Martin and Infiniti.
