Ownership profile
Who owns Humble Brands?
Humble Brands is a privately held natural deodorant company founded by Jeff Shardell in Taos, NM; in September 2025 it accepted a growth investment from Hummingbird Equity Partners, a boutique private equity firm focused on consumer packaged goods, though the stake size has not been publicly disclosed.
Ownership profile
Humble Brands
Humble Brands, Inc.
Evidence (7)
Humble Brands was founded in 2015 by Jeff Shardell in Taos, New Mexico and makes natural deodorant, soap, and lip balm
https://humblebrands.com/pages/our-storyOn September 12, 2025, Hummingbird Equity Partners announced a growth investment in Humble Brands; Hummingbird describes itself as 'a boutique private equity investment group that focuses on branded consumer packaged goods, with a particular focus on health and wellness'
https://hummingbirdbrands.com/news/hummingbird-makes-growth-investment-in-humble-brandsAs part of the Hummingbird investment, Duane Primozich joined as CEO and Board member, and Terry Tierney (an Operating Partner of Hummingbird) joined as Chairman of the board
https://hummingbirdbrands.com/news/hummingbird-makes-growth-investment-in-humble-brandsPitchBook classifies Humble Brands as 'Private Equity-Backed' with Hummingbird Equity Partners listed as its investor, and the company as privately held
https://pitchbook.com/profiles/company/448234-93The legal entity operating the consumer brand is 'Humble Brands, Inc.' (also referenced as 'humble Brands, Inc.'), which has filed 2 SEC Form D notices raising approximately $1.4M in private placements
https://www.themarketcast.ai/company/humble-brands-incFounder Jeff Shardell stepped back from CEO role (handing it to Primozich) but remains a board member; Humble Brands received a $148,000 USDA grant in 2024
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/taos-kitchen-experiment-became-one-151000832.htmlA third-party consumer label review site (trustedlabels.co) characterised the brand as 'founder-owned' with 'no venture capital, no corporate parent' — this predates the September 2025 Hummingbird investment and is now stale
https://trustedlabels.co/brands/humble-brands/What's uncertain
- The exact stake size (majority vs. minority) taken by Hummingbird Equity Partners has not been publicly disclosed; the press release describes it only as a 'growth investment', so pe_involvement is scored as 'influenced' (minority/growth) rather than 'controlled' pending further disclosure.
- The SEC Form D filings found under 'humble Brands, Inc.' (CIK 0001468939) appear to relate to an earlier San Francisco-based entity; the current operating company is based in Taos, NM — these may be distinct legal entities and require registry-level verification.
- Third-party sources (trustedlabels.co) pre-dating the September 2025 investment described the brand as fully founder-owned with no outside capital; those characterisations are now outdated.
- No SEC EDGAR filings were found for the current Taos-based Humble Brands operating entity, which is consistent with a private company not required to file.
- Note: 'Humble Brands' could be confused with 'The Humble Co.' (a Swedish oral-care brand under publicly listed Humble Group AB) — these are entirely separate companies.