“The origin story really came from solving a problem at home,” he told Inside Retail. “For years and years, I had had different business ideas and product ideas and I always filed them away and never actually was doing any of them. Finally, I got to the point where I’ve got to actually do something, start something, create something.” Freeman described his wife Pam as a “mosquito magnet” who had long struggled to find an effective natural repellant. So, in 2014, he started working with formulators to design a cleaner bug-repellant product that could not only help his wife, but also other consumers experiencing the same discomfort.  A truly family-inspired brand, Freeman explained that the brand name was named after his dog, Murphy.  Prior to launching Murphy’s Naturals, Freeman had over 23 years of experience in packaging sales, working with brands like The Body Shop, a company he partially modeled his brand after.  Freeman explained that he was inspired by The Body Shop’s founder Anita Roddick, and the values with which she launched and ran her company, such as sustainability and creating a caring workplace for the company’s employees.  “I’ve worked on so many different packaging projects, with The Body Shop and with many other retailers, that it gave me a head start. So when I was creating my own packaging, I already had, quite a bit of experience and knew about many different formats of packaging. I was fortunate to have that sort of a shortcut and I didn’t run into nearly as many obstacles, as most brands would when they are developing their packaging,” he said. Standing out in a competitive market The key to Murphy’s Naturals is its use of essential oils like citronella and peppermint, which Freeman dubbed “liquid gold”.  While many bug-repellant brands on the market incorporate essential oils into their product formulations, Freeman explained that due to the high cost of these ingredients, most companies don’t use a high enough percentage to be effective.  While it made the products a bit more expensive, Freeman explained that it was well worth it to design effective and desirable products for consumers. In addition to the high use of essential oils, Murphy’s Naturals stands out in the market thanks to its focused efforts on “mission-based conscious capitalism”, as the founder described it. The company is focused on ingredient transparency and has updated its packaging to feature a “smart” label, a QR code that directs the consumer to ingredient lists and detailed information about the materials. Murphy’s Naturals has also achieved a B Corp certification and is a member of One Percent for the Planet, an international organisation whose members contribute at least 1 per cent of their annual revenue to environmental causes. From e-commerce to omnichannel Before launching a direct-to-consumer site, the brand was available through Amazon, mom-and-pop shops and smaller hardware stores.  Freeman explained that the company experienced major growth in 2020 “when everyone didn’t have a place to go and were discovering the outdoors. That really gave us a nice boost and we had over 100 per cent growth that year. It was fortunate that there was so much consumer activity around outdoor products, and so many new customers discovered us.” The brand has experienced overall growth of 45.7 per cent in the past four years. Today, Murphy’s Naturals is stocked in a wide range of hardware, mass retail, and grocery store chains in the US, including Target, Walmart, Ace Hardware, Lowe’s, REI Co-op, Costco, Whole Foods, Wegmans, and more. In March, Murphy’s Naturals raised an $8 million Series B funding round, led by Point King Capital, with participation from Emil Capital Partners, former Seventh Generation and Burt’s Bees CEO John Replogle and existing shareholders. With the latest funding round, the company has raised about $18 million to date.  With the most recent funding round, Freeman explained that the brand now has funds available to buy the ingredients it needs to make its products. Over 80 per cent of its products in-house at its facility. The founder described the brand as a seasonal business, as consumers predominantly buy bug-repellant products during warmer seasons, and that the company needs to stock up on ingredients and componentry during the offseason. “Having those funds makes all the difference in the world because our revenues are much smaller during the offseason,” Freeman pointed out. In addition to gathering ingredients, Freeman plans on using the funding to expand upon retail distribution and aims to reach $100 million in revenue by 2030. In the future, Murphy’s Naturals plans to focus on new product launches like sun protection infused with bug-repelling ingredients. Freeman largely credited the success of the brand to his team, which has rapidly expanded in recent years. From starting as a one-man operation in 2014 to seven employees in 2020 to an impressive 45-person team, Freeman proudly stated, “I’m the guy who has the vision, but it’s the team who saw us forward and carried the mission through.” He said that the brand’s charitable and conscientious mission has helped it attract great employees. “Our vision resonates with them, and they want to be a part of that. Not only has it [mission-based conscious capitalism] been beneficial from a consumer perspective, but also the talent we’ve been able to attract because of who we are as a company,” Freeman concluded.