Mr. Pakman said the acquisition represented a “10x” return for his firm.

Other investors in the company include Science, Felicis Ventures, Comcast Ventures and Technology Crossover Ventures.

Dollar Shave Club itself gained attention soon after it was established in 2011, after the founder Michael Dubin’s guerrilla YouTube marketing campaign went viral for its schlocky, slapstick brand of humor. The company made a name for itself as a direct-to-consumer subscription razor blades service, which cut costs by eschewing traditional store-shelf space and passing on the savings to consumers.

As the brand grew, Dollar Shave Club expanded beyond razor blades, offering its own line of shaving cream and after-shave lotion, among other products.

Now Dollar Shave Club’s competition stretches beyond Gillette and Schick. Among its main competitors on the start-up side is Harry’s, which focuses more on the design of its razors but has also branched out into other grooming products. Harry’s — co-founded by Jeff Raider, a co-founder of Warby Parker, and backed by investors like Tiger Global and Thrive Capital — also owns its manufacturing, having bought a German razor factory two years ago. Harry’s last fund-raising round gave it a valuation of roughly $700 million, excluding that latest investment, and the company is likely to want a price of more than $1 billion.

And then there is Bevel, a razor seller that aims at the African-American market, which has drawn backing from the likes of Andreessen Horowitz.

Yet Dollar Shave Club is still on the fast track in terms of sales growth. In Tuesday’s deal announcement, Unilever said that the razor seller collected $152 million in sales last year, and was on pace to pull in more than $200 million in revenue this year.

The deal could prove particularly lucrative for Unilever, which among its various properties does not yet own a direct-to-consumer men’s shaving product line. The two sides first became acquainted about six months ago when Mr. Dubin sat down for dinner with Mr. Kruythoff, a meal arranged by a senior JPMorgan Chase banker, Romitha Mally.