Impact Report: Beauty Tech Startup Funded by BCIF Closes $5.9M Seed Round

Candace Mitchell, Founder/CEO, MYAVANA

MYAVANA, the trailblazer in AI-driven personalized hair care, has now closed a $5.9 million seed round. This infusion of capital underscores MYAVANA’s pivotal role in revolutionizing the global hair care market, projected to reach $113 billion by 2031. It is spearheaded by strategic investors who understand the AI market and MYAVANA’s impact using hair data to inform markets. Investors include Prisma Ventures (the innovation fund of Ulta), H/L Ventures, New Age Capital, BrainTrust, Duo Partners, REFASHIOND Ventures, Resilient Ventures, Amazon, Reform Ventures, and NGC Capital. This round of funding will accelerate MYAVANA’s unique market position, pioneering personalized haircare under the visionary leadership of its founder, Candace Mitchell.

MYAVANA’s journey over the past 12 years has been marked by breakthrough innovations. Women’s hair care is a multi-billion dollar market with notably strong growth since the early 2000s. For the textured hair care market in particular, growth is fueled by trends in personalized hair care solutions. In 2012, Mitchell launched MYAVANA to help women of color navigate a more vibrant yet increasingly complex product landscape. With a background in cosmetology and computer science — and diverse team of innovators at her side — Mitchell was poised to build and release the beta version of her HairAI™ mobile app. After facing multiple rejections from traditional sources, in 2019 she received a zero-interest BCIF microloan that radically changed the trajectory of her business.

Direct access to capital from BCIF empowered the MYAVANA team to launch the world’s first AI-driven, proprietary personalized hair care software system. As one of the only Black-owned AI enterprises, their patent-pending HairAI™  mobile app is the world’s first instant hair analysis system, pioneering scientific hair strand testing for complete analysis of textured hair type and condition.

MYAVANA’s pioneering HairAI™ technology utilizes microscopic hair analysis and advanced algorithms to decode the intricacies of hair texture, type, and condition, providing retailers, consumers, and salons with instant product recommendations tailored to their specific needs. “A person’s hair is as unique to them as a fingerprint, and we’ve unlocked powerful, personalized insights with our AI platform,” said Mitchell. “Hair is the longest record of your body’s health, providing as much as a decade of information about a person’s health and needs. I’m grateful to our investors who see the long-term potential and share our mission.”

For more information visit myavana.com.