Venture capital has taken a turn for the glamorous as investors funnel more venture dollars than ever into beauty products and services. In the past year and a half, beauty startups raked in nearly half a billion in 62 venture rounds.
Boston-based MiniLuxe just raised $23 million from Cue Ball Management among others to fund its high-tech beauty salon chain, following beauty brand Julep and discovery commerce platform Birchbox as the third most-funded beauty startup to date.
The recent glamor-tech movement is international, with nearly a third of startups backed this year based in Asia and a handful out of Europe and South America as well.
But for once, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs are behind the trend. Only four venture rounds for beauty-related startups were seen out of the Bay Area this year, while New York, home of most-funded beauty startup Birchbox, recorded 8 primarily early-stage rounds.
a16z, Maveron, and Upfront Ventures appear to be more concerned with vanity than most – they’ve all invested multiple times in the beauty industry.
And so have a handful of high profile celebrities. In the past year alone, beauty startups have attracted the attention of Will Smith, Jay-Z, fashion stylist Rachel Zoe, rapper Nas’s Queensbridge Venture Partners, and Steve Nash’s Consigliere Brand Capital.
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Photo via Flickr user Melanie Holtsman.