SOSV is a global, deep tech venture capital firm that operates the HAX and IndieBio startup development programs focused on human and planetary health. SOSV invests $500,000 in startups at their inception as they onboard either HAX or IndieBio for a 4-6 month period designed to accelerate the raise of their next institutional round. SOSV joins the later rounds of HAX and IndieBio graduates.  HAX, based in a 35,000 sq ft facility in Newark, NJ, is equipped with machine tools, 3D printers, chemical, electrical and mechanical engineering labs, as well as on-staff engineering and design experts. SOSV's IndieBio has locations in NYC and San Francisco, both of which offer extensive services and facilities to founders including on-site BSL-2 labs, well equipped lab benches and hoods, and advanced lab equipment, such as chromatography equipment.

SOSV

Founders Factory builds and funds startups together with exceptional entrepreneurs and the world's leading companies. We invest across four key themes - fintech, health, climate, and deeptech. Founded in 2015 by Brent Hoberman, Henry Lane Fox and George Northcott, Founders Factory combines capital and bespoke support from a team of over 70 specialists with a broad network of corporates and established entrepreneurs. Founders Factory has backed over 300 technology companies globally. Corporate partners include Aviva, L’Oreal, Guardian Media Group, easyJet, Reckitt, Marks and Spencer, CSC Group, J&J, Deutsche Telekom, Fastweb, Pico Global, Mediobanca and Standard Bank.

Founders Factory

HAX is a venture capital-based program dedicated to accelerating startups with a hardware element. Their program operates across two locations, San Francisco and Shenzhen, giving founders the resources necessary to move with lightning speed. Teams accepted into the program will focus on rapid iteration of prototyping in many forms. This includes physical models, technology iterations, user interaction studies, volumetric studies, marketing messaging, business plans and launch strategies. With the help of HAX’s full-time staff, mentors, partners, and startup community, they’ll also work with you on developing a scalable business plan. As teams are ready to take their  product to market, they’ll head to San Francisco to work with HAX on business development, fundraising, and growth. This stage emphasizes introductions to corporates, investors, partners and press. It also focuses on helping teams secure their first round of funding, as well as gain first-revenue and partnership traction. HAX is an SOSV program. SOSV is a global venture capital firm that operates startup venture programs around the world. SOSV had more than 1,000 portfolio companies and $950 million in assets under management.

Halogen Ventures is a Los Angeles, California-based Venture Capital fund focused on investing in early-stage consumer technology startups with a female on the founding team. Halogen Ventures invests in pre-seed, seed, and series A companies creating groundbreaking technologies and products in the consumer space. It is hands-on and supports founders through their full lifecycle. The firm helps them build their networks, get brand exposure, hire great talent, raise follow-on rounds and find their path to acquisition or IPO.

Halogen Ventures

Draper Associates is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in industry-transforming companies. They invest globally, in great teams of people creating revolutionary companies in new media, gaming, SaaS, cloud, new finance, IOT, and mobile. Their portfolio companies disrupting markets in the tens of billions and are on a clear path to later rounds of fundraising. Draper Associates encourages entrepreneurs to drive their businesses to greatness, to transform industries with new technologies, and to build platforms for extraordinary growth, jobs, and wealth creation. It was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in San Mateo, CA, USA.

Draper Associates

Version One Ventures backs mission-driven founders at the earliest stages. Full thesis here: https://versionone.vc/updated-thesis/

Version One Ventures

Two Small Fish started as a way to recycle the experience, knowledge, and capital from our days as successful entrepreneurs to help the next generation of founders. What separates us from other venture firms is that each Two Small Fish partner is an engineer by training and an entrepreneur or operator by experience. We are proven serial entrepreneurs with multiple exits under our belt.

Two Small Fish Ventures

The Amazon Alexa Fund is Amazon’s venture capital fund investing in artificial intelligence, frontier tech, voice, robotics, and digital health across consumer and enterprise. We invest in early- to growth-stage companies globally. To learn more, visit us at alexafund.com.

Amazon Alexa Fund

Garage Capital is a venture capital firm focused on Canadian companies.

Garage Capital

Telescopic Ventures is vc firm focused on investments for applied frontier technology applications within B2B and enterprise sectors.  Their investment philosophy, ''Applied Frontier'', guides their approach to the market. They are focused on the industrial and enterprise applications of frontier and emerging technologies.  The founders they seek to work alongside are passionate, curious, capable in their respective fields and seek to apply that passion and talent towards solving the world's most challenging problems.  They are a true seed and early-stage investment firm and like to take substantive positions in a company's first outside capital raise.  They aren't afraid to lead, and will happily co-invest with partners whose engagement level is on par with their own.  After their initial investment, they intend to follow-on up and through the first growth round -- they are in it for the long haul and through the ups and downs. They are fellow founders and entrepreneurs themselves, and try to add value when needed.

Telescopic Ventures

Cleo Capital is a venture capital company. The company focuses on making investments in early-stage and expanding start-up businesses.

Cleo Capital

Shrug Capital is a Venture capital firm that invests in consumer-based startups. Shrug Capital was founded in 2018 and headquartered in San Francisco, California.

Shrug Capital

Preemadonna

Preemadonna builds AI powered nail and body art experiences. Our flagship AI product, the Nailbot, prints art and photos on nails in five seconds. Along with the hardware comes an art platform and a community of creators - particularly Gen Z & Gen A young women. Future products make nail polish and print body art & makeup. Our interconnected machines and platforms leverage cutting-edge technologies, including computer vision, machine learning, augmented reality, proprietary formulations & sustainable consumables.

Preemadonna is the developer of “Nailbot”, a do-it-yourself (DIY) device that prints personalized nail art in as little as five seconds. The device, launched in 2015, is connected to the Nailbot mobile app through which the customer can select customized nail prints, including photos, pictures designed in the app, or pictures exported from other design programs. The prints will last for three-five days if sealed with a top coat of nail polish. The Nailbot starter kit, available for USD 299.99 (January 2024), includes the printer, nail care consumables, and the Nailbot mobile app. The starter cartridge could last for around 2,000-2,500 nail prints. The number of prints can be tracked from the Nailbot app print counter. The company sells in pre-ordered batches and was reported to have been sold out at the initial sale.

The intersection of beauty and technology to deliver hyper-personalized products.

Beauty Tech

Preemadonna's Ed-Tech Nailbot Ignites Girls' Interest in STEM

Preemadonna is the developer of “Nailbot”, a do-it-yourself (DIY) device that prints personalized nail art in as little as five seconds. The device, launched in 2015, is connected to the Nailbot mobile app through which the customer can select customized nail prints, including photos, pictures designed in the app, or pictures exported from other design programs. The prints will last for three-five days if sealed with a top coat of nail polish. The Nailbot starter kit, available for USD 299.99 (January 2024), includes the printer, nail care consumables, and the Nailbot mobile app. The starter cartridge could last for around 2,000-2,500 nail prints. The number of prints can be tracked from the Nailbot app print counter. The company sells in pre-ordered batches and was reported to have been sold out at the initial sale. Funding and financialsIn January 2021, the company raised USD 5.6 million in Seed funding bringing the company’s total funding to USD 9.2 million. The round was led by Halogen Ventures with participation from Version One Ventures, Amazon Alexa Fund, Shrug Capital, Cleo Capital, and several other institutional and individual investors.Key Competitors : None comparable (Preemadonna is the only company in the hub that develops personalized nail art devices.)

Ipsy provides a subscription-based personalized bundle of beauty products. It uses an online quiz to obtain customer attributes such as skin tone, hair color, and preferred brands and uses its proprietary machine learning technology named “IPSY MATCH” to match products from selected brands with customers.Ipsy provides three customized subscription-based product bundle options: 1) Glam Bag (five deluxe-sized samples for USD 14 per month); 2) BoxyCharm (five full-sized products for USD 30 per month); and 3)Icon Box (eight full-sized products for USD 60 per quarter). Ipsy also enables customers to pick three products out of 12 recommendations, allowing the company to gain insights on customer preferences which are in turn used to improve its recommendation engine.Ipsy ships to the US, Canada, and Mexico with over 3 million active members as of November 2020. As of October 2023, Ipsy had over 3.6 million followers on TikTok and was claimed to be the most followed beauty brand on the platform.In November 2020, Ipsy acquired the subscription-based beauty product provider BoxyCharm in a USD 500 million deal, and, in March 2023, merged the two brands under Ipsy’s brand portfolio.Key customers and partnershipsIpsy’s platform features various makeup brands from over 330 retailers (November 2023).Ipsy creates curated makeup boxes in partnership with celebrities and popular makeup artists such as the founder of the cosmetic brand Anastasia Beverly Hills, Anastasia Soare (March 2023), the American actress and singer, Vanessa Hudgens (July 2023), the british makeup artist, Pat McGrath (October 2023), and the American singer and songwriter, Gwen Stefani (February 2024).Key Competitors : None comparable (Ipsy is the only company in the hub that offers customized subscription boxes for an assortment of various types of beauty products.)

Ipsy

Proven Skincare develops personalized products based on a custom formula that incorporates 45 factors about the user including environment, lifestyle, and skin concerns. Based on the identified skin genome profile, three multifunctional products are developed, i.e. a multifunctional cleanser/toner, a moisturizer, and a night cream/serum. Proven Skincare products can be purchased as a one-off or on a subscription.Proven claims that its proprietary “Skin Genomic Database” consists of over 20 million customer testimonials, 8 million online reviews, and data from over 4,000 scientific papers analyzed with machine learning and natural-language processing to identify the most suitable clean ingredients for each customer.The company also introduced a <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/10097?industryIds=39">personalized eye cream </a>duo for day and night use in May 2022. Proven's skincare personalization process received a US <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/11478?industryIds=39">patent </a>in July 2022. It introduced a <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/24527">personalized Serum </a>in November 2023 which leverages AI to determine the optimal skincare ingredients for each user.Proven Skincare <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/11716?industryIds=39">expanded </a>into the European Union (EU) and the UK in July 2022.Key customers and partnershipsThe company announced a partnership with Sephora in January 2023 to bring its personalized skincare solutions to <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/16034">Sephora’s </a>digital and brick-and-mortar stores.As of September 2021, Proven Skincare had <a href="https://www.retaildive.com/news/how-high-is-the-ceiling-for-personalized-beauty-brands/606802/">over 100,000 customer </a>s, ~70% of which were repeat shoppers.Funding and financialsFrom its launch in October 2019, the company had reportedly reached a USD 24 million average annual revenue within two years of operation in the North American market, with 80% of customers on a subscription-based sales model.In September 2023, the company raised <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/22322">USD 12.2 million </a>in series A funding led by NewH2 Ventures to enhance its brand presence and expand its team.

Proven Skincare

Function of Beauty is a developer of custom hair care, skincare, and body care products. The company initially focused on hair care and subsequently expanded its focus to skin and body care products in July 2020. Function of Beauty formulates custom products based on an online quiz using an algorithm capable of offering 12 billion custom combinations developed by the company’s founders—a group of MIT engineers and data scientists including Zahir Dossa and Joshua Maciejewski.The company’s products are vegan, cruelty-free, sulphate-free, gluten-free, and paraben-free. Its hair care products have a patented Adaptive f3 Bonding Complex. Function of Beauty’s customized products include shampoo and conditioner (starting at USD 20 as of January 2024), body wash and body lotion (starting at USD 21 as of January 2024) and moisturizer (starting at USD 45 as of January 2024).Function of Beauty carries out product designing, development, manufacturing, and packaging in-house with occasional consultant feedback. Function of Beauty uses automated processes, including a robotic system for order dispensing. The system can use 20–50 ingredients per bottle. As of January 2024, the company shipped to over 48 countries including the US, the UK, Canada, EU countries, and several Asian countries.In August 2021, Function of Beauty acquired Atolla, a custom skincare product developer to combine its proprietary formulations with Atolla's patented skincare technology to offer advanced custom skincare products.Key customers and partnershipsIn September 2022, the company partnered with Canadian retailer <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/13191?industryIds=39">Shoppers Drug Mart </a>to launch its personalized hair care products in Canada. In August 2023, Function of Beauty launched a new Function of Beauty <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/21500">PRO hair care range </a>in 300 Sephora locations across North America and online. It also has a wholesale partnership with Amazon (<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/30313">June 2024</a>) to offer hair care products through Amazon’s e-commerce platform.

Function of Beauty

Hawthorne is a developer of custom fragrance, body care/grooming, hair care, and skincare products for men. The company launched with fragrances, introduced body care products in 2018, hair care products in 2019, and in January 2020 introduced custom skincare products. An online quiz collects information such as daily routine, lifestyle, taste, and familiarity with grooming products. That information is then analyzed using a proprietary data processing algorithm.Hawthorne claims that the algorithm can match customers with a product that suits their body chemistry, skin type, hair type, and lifestyle with a 97% accuracy. As of January 2024, the company’s personalized fragrances were priced at USD 50–60 and skin and hair care products were priced at USD 17–21. The company ships to the US, Hawaii, and Alaska.Key customers and partnershipsHawthorne’s perfumes are developed in collaboration with award-winning perfumers such as Rodrigo Flores-Roux, Olivier Gillotin, and Quentin Bisch.

Hawthorne

Prose develops custom hair care products and hair care routines based on responses to an online quiz. The quiz obtains customer information about hair type, current hair care habits, diet, stress level, physical activity and factors such as ultraviolet (UV) exposure, pollution, humidity, wind, and other <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9356?industryIds=39">micro-local factors </a>. The quiz also takes customer’s preferences such as vegan or gluten-free requirements into consideration. The information is processed through Prose’s proprietary algorithm to create individualized products. Prose uses a semi-automated approach to manufacturing where the production is carried out by a chemist with the aid of automated mixing and packaging.In April 2021, the company introduced “Root Source,” a hair supplement to treat environmental causes of hair loss. The product consists of two pills, a universal soft gel and a customized capsule, and, as of January 2024, was priced at USD 57.2. The product was developed based on insights derived from information collected through Prose’s online quiz, which revealed that around 85% of the brand’s customers experience hair loss. Root Source’s clinical trials claim around 93% of users experiencing improved hair growth after taking the supplement for 90 days. Prose also introduced a <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/12245?industryIds=39">personalized styling gel </a>specifically targeting curly hair in August 2022.In June 2023, Prose expanded into <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/19873">skincare </a>with an AI-powered system offering customized formulas based on individual needs, targeting multiple skin concerns, and addressing factors such as skin type, diet, stress, pollution, and climate while allowing fragrance and texture customization. In <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/28430">April 2024 </a>, the company launched an AI-based beauty tech customization platform, Singular. The company claims to have completed over one million consultations in the 11 months leading up to November 2019.

Prose

Companies that leverage technologies such as AI/ML and AR/VR  to enable cosmetic producers to offer personalized product offerings to consumers. This could include virtual-try-ons for cosmetics such as makeup and hair color in addition to solutions for skin analytics.

Companies that formulate customized solutions for skin, leveraging technologies such as AI/ML to conduct skin analysis, and provide personalized recommendations, which are directly sold to consumers.

Companies that leverage biotechnology, nanotechnology, or other technologies to develop biomaterials or novel lab-grown ingredients (e.g., bio-based cosmetic polymers) for use by the broader beauty industry.

Companies that leverage technologies like IoT to develop smart devices (e.g., smart mirrors, wearables) that offer real-time analysis of skin health, skincare routines, and product usage for consumers. This also includes companies that offer 3D-printed makeup, at-home beauty tech (e.g., at-home manicure machines), and other tech-based personal care products (e.g., tech-enabled color-changing nails).

Companies that leverage technologies such as AI/ML to match consumers with third-party beauty products by offering personalized recommendations to consumers, which are curated based on each individual customer’s preferences.

Companies that formulate customized hair and other beauty solutions such as fragrances, leveraging technologies such as AI/ML to tailor product recommendations, which are directly sold to consumers.

Beauty tech features brands that leverage IoT for smart devices

Personalized beauty tech features brands that leverage AR tools for virtual cosmetic try-ons

Some companies (like Mink and Ellure) allow customers to print their own makeup

Beauty tech features brands that leverage robotics for at-home devices

AI/ML is used for Big Data analysis, allowing companies to improve prediction capabilities for personalization

Beauty tech features brands that leverage biotechnology to create sustainable materials

Beauty tech features brands that leverage blockchain for supply chain transparency

Companies offer personalized recommendations and products based on individual attributes like skin and hair

Preemadonna

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