30 Notable Beauty Companies & Startups in 2024
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The beauty and personal care market is expected to grow annually by 2.43% between 2024 and 2028, with personal care making up the largest segment.
According to McKinsey, in-store shopping accounted for up to 85% of beauty-product purchases before the pandemic, resulting in an up to 30% loss in revenue when lockdowns began.
However, the demand for beauty products has not decreased significantly, only shifted. In their same report, McKinsey states that skincare, nail care, and personal care experienced huge surges during the pandemic.
It follows that beauty startups are trending towards online direct-to-consumer formats, as consumers become more comfortable with online shopping. Another widespread trend among beauty startups is personalized beauty options. Additionally, clean and natural beauty is expected to grow at a faster rate than the rest of the beauty industry, with a projected CAGR of 12%.
We’ve compiled a list of the 30 beauty startups flourishing in this digital era and disrupting the industry. Keep reading to learn more about the key data points on each company.
1. Mamaearth
5-year search growth: 1,425%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2016
Location: Gurgaon, India
Funding: $111.6M (Post-IPO Secondary)
What they do: Mamaearth is an online retailer specializing in natural beauty and personal care products for children and adults. They experienced 400% growth through the pandemic, and name their Vitamin C face washes and move towards brick and mortar stores as major drivers behind their success.
2. Planity
5-year search growth: 1,580%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2016
Location: Paris, France
Funding: $55.7M (Series B)
What they do: Planity is an online booking service for beauty appointments across 10,000 locations in France. The company claims to have processed over 40 million appointments since its launch in 2016. Since 2019, Planity has achieved 2x growth each year, leading to a revenue run rate of $8.7M in 2021.
3. Sallve
5-year search growth: 9,500%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2018
Location: São Paulo, Brazil
Funding: $31.8M (Series B)
What they do: Sallve is a direct-to-consumer (DTC) beauty brand. The product range includes 22 stock-keeping units (SKUs) with product formulations that include hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, and salicylic acid. Sallve’s Instagram account increased its follower count by 2.69x since May 2020, reaching more than 569,000 users.
4. Curology
5-year search growth: -32%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2014
Location: San Francisco, CA
Funding: $19.2M (Series Unknown)
What they do: Curology is a customized skincare prescription service that treats a variety of concerns from aging to acne. Founded in 2014 as Pocketderm by David Lortscher, the company aims to make effective acne care accessible to all. The service virtually connects subscribers to providers who customize a topical prescription formula to meet their skin care needs.
5. Stryx
5-year search growth: -5%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2018
Location: Lawrence, NY
Funding: $135K (Angel)
What they do: Stryx is a skincare and cosmetics brand targeted at men. They sell ten core SKUs, but the brand is mainly known for their moisturizers, lip balms and concealers.Stryx’s TikTok video showing their concealer at Target has over 150,000 likes.The startup generated approximately $1.5M in revenue in 2021 (Pitchbook).
6. K18 Hair
5-year search growth: 9,700%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2018
Location: Pula, Croatia
Funding: $25M (Private Equity)
What they do: K18 Hair is a biotech-powered haircare brand that features a patented K18Peptide in their products. This compound is clinically proven to reverse hair damage caused by bleach, color, chemical services, and heat in just 4 minutes. K18 Hair sells Damage Shield protective shampoos and conditioners, molecular repair hair oils, and repair hair treatment masks.
7. Viori
5-year search growth: 644%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2019
Location: Orem, Utah
Funding: Undisclosed
What they do: Viori is a DTC haircare startup that sells shampoo bars made from Longsheng rice. The startup currently sells six core SKUs. Their highly-rated shampoo bar, listed as “Amazon’s Choice” for rice shampoo, generates approximately $54K/month on this platform. The startup raised $40K from over 900 backers in a crowdfunding campaign.
8. Branch Basics
5-year search growth: 435%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2012
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Funding: $1.2M (Series Unknown)
What they do: Branch Basics is a natural soap startup that sells non-toxic, plant-based cleaning concentrates. They sell three core SKUs: all-purpose cleaning concentrate, laundry concentrate and dishwashing tablets. Thanks to a large investment in influencer marketing, videos mentioning the startup have over 120 million views on TikTok. The startup brings in approximately $5M in yearly revenue (Pitchbook) and has raised $1.2M in funding.
9. Versed Skincare
5-year search growth: 4,600%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2018
Location: West Hollywood, California
Funding: $11.6M (Series A)
What they do: Versed Skincare is a clean skincare brand that focuses on transparency and sustainability. It has been touted as the first drugstore brand to offer clean skincare. The company was founded by Katherine Power, who also founded the fashion and lifestyle brand Who What Wear. Behind both initiatives, Power has stated her goal is to democratize the beauty industry.
10. Function of Beauty
5-year search growth: -52%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2015
Location: New York, New York
Funding: $247.9M (Series Unknown)
What they do: Function of Beauty is a personal care brand founded by three MIT graduates that offers fully customizable shampoo, body wash, and skincare. For haircare, users take a quiz online on their hair goals, select a scent, and formula color, and can then elect to receive regular shipments of the product. The company recently raised $150M in Series B funding led by the private equity firm L. Catterton, which the company states it plans to use to expand its product offerings and its presence internationally.
11. Vegamour
5-year search growth: 3,650%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2018
Location: California City, California
Funding: $80M (Series Unknown)
What they do: Vegamour is a vegan hair care and beauty company. The startup offers premium hair products designed to nourish hair, brows, and lashes for overall hair wellness. Vegamour offers a range of hair products, including shampoos, conditioners, and serums. Instead of using hormones or other harmful chemicals, Vegamour only uses natural ingredients like aloe vera, Fo-Ti, curcumin stem cell extract, and more.
12. Purplle
5-year search growth: 426%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2012
Location: Mumbai, India
Funding: $296.3M (Secondary Market)
What they do: Purplle is a beauty e-commerce website and app for cosmetics, skincare, and haircare. They host a wide variety of makeup and beauty brands, reportedly selling 50,000 products from over 1,000 brands. They offer utility by maximizing the discoverability of new beauty products. Purplle recently raised $65 million in their most recent funding round and claims to have around 7 million monthly active users. The beauty company is also in the process of acquiring Faces Canada, a DTC cosmetics company.
13. By Humankind
5-year search growth: 73%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2018
Location: New York, New York
Funding: $4M (Seed)
What they do: By Humankind is a direct-to-consumer personal care brand with a mission to reduce the use of single-use plastic. Their products include natural tablet toothpaste in refillable jars, biodegradable floss, and shampoo bars that forgo packaging altogether. By Humankind is backed by Lerer Hippeau, along with entrepreneurs like Scott Belsky, the CPO of Adobe, and Elizabeth Cutler, the co-founder of Soul Cycle.
14. The Beard Club
5-year search growth: -49%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2014
Location: Westwood, New Jersey
Funding: Undisclosed
What they do: The Beard Club provides men’s grooming products. The startup experienced sudden success when their parody ad of The Dollar Shave Club went viral, earning them $30,000 in recurring subscription revenue overnight. Today, co-founder Alex Brown reports the company has become a $10M business.
15. Hey Bud Skincare
5-year search growth: 1,500%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2018
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Funding: $2M (Angel)
What they do: Hey Bud is a hemp-based skincare brand. Its product catalog is entirely formulated with hemp seed oil and includes a clay mask, facial moisturizer, and face oil. The brand reports consistent 21% month-over-month sales growth over the past year.
16. Haus Labs
5-year search growth: -100%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2010
Location: Los Angeles, California
Funding: $10.4M (Series A)
What they do: Haus Labs is a vegan and cruelty-free cosmetics brand owned by Lady Gaga. The brand made its debut as the first major beauty line to exclusively partner with Amazon as a retailer. They currently offer a range of cosmetics and beauty products, including lip liners, lip glosses, shimmer pigments, and more. Allure named their Triclone Skin Tech Foundation product “Best Clean Foundation” of 2023.
17. GlossGenius
5-year search growth: 1,011%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2016
Location: New York, New York
Funding: $70.6M (Series C)
What they do: GlossGenius is a salon and spa software platform where beauty and wellness professionals can manage their operations. The platform includes appointment booking, payment management, and point-of-sale transactions. GlossGenius currently serves more than 40,000+ beauty and wellness entrepreneurs.
18. EvenSkyn
5-year search growth: 500%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2015
Location: New York, New York
Funding: Undisclosed
What they do: EvenSkyn is a DTC skincare device startup that focuses on “professional-grade handsets” intended for anti-aging, anti-wrinkling, hair removal and facial cleansing. (For example, one of their best-sellers is a professional-grade LED facemask). EvenSkyn currently sells six core SKUs.
19. Quip
5-year search growth: -46%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2014
Location: Brooklyn, New York
Funding: $162.2M (Series B)
What they do: Quip offers simple and sustainable oral care product subscriptions. They’re best known for their smart electric toothbrush that tracks and coaches better brushing habits. Also included in their product lineup are a refillable mouthwash concentrate, a reusable floss dispenser, and a healthy chewing gum.
20. Dae Hair
5-year search growth: 3,650%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2020
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
Funding: $10.6M (Series A)
What they do: Dae Hair is a DTC hair care startup that creates products made from ingredients found in desert botanicals (i.e., and cactus oil, sweet almond oil, aloe). The startup was founded by influencer Amber Fillerup Clark, which explains why Dae Hair has become a social media sensation–specifically on Instagram and TikTok. Videos mentioning Dae Hair have over 333 million views on TikTok. According to Pitchbook, the startup saw a 300% YoY growth in their revenue during 2021. Dae Hair has raised $10.6M in funding.
21. Geologie Skincare
5-year search growth: 975%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2018
Location: New York, New York
Funding: $5M (Debt Financing)
What they do: Geologie is a DTC skincare brand targeted towards men. Like many DTC skincare startups, Geologie offers a personalized skincare routine (pulled from their 28 SKUs) based on an onboarding survey. The company’s product formulas include ingredients like kojic acid (a “skin tone evener”) and salicylic acid (to treat acne). The company had over 5,000 subscribers as of March last year, with a 50%+ retention rate (following the first trial box). The NYC-based startup raised $5M in a seed funding round announced in April 2021.
22. Shampora
5-year search growth: 131%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2018
Location: Rome, Italy
Funding: $3.7M (Seed)
What they do: Shampora offers personalized hair care and color products. The startup’s proprietary algorithm suggests products to suit specific customer needs. These personalized products are then manufactured in Italy for each customer. All Shampora products are vegan and cruelty-free.
23. Fresha
5-year search growth: 1,011%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2015
Location: London, United Kingdom
Funding: $185M (Series C)
What they do: Fresha creates software for beauty and hair salons with online booking, payment processing, and marketing features. The beauty startup has over 50,000 partner businesses. Currently, the platform offers their software in over 120 countries. The company recently received a valuation of $640M and raised $52.5M in their most recent funding round.
24. Nøie
5-year search growth: 600%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2018
Location: Copenhagen, Denmark
Funding: $12M (Series A)
What they do: Nøie offers personalized skincare products which include a custom label with the client’s name. Every item sold is vegan and formulated without perfume or colorants. As of March 2021, Nøie has 20 employees - a 2x increase since May 2020.
25. Tubby Todd
5-year search growth: 335%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2014
Location: Carlsbad, California
Funding: Undisclosed
What they do: Tubby Todd is a DTC skincare brand focused on children and pregnant women.The company’s products are made up of ingredients that are animal cruelty-free and clearly sourced. The startup currently sells 25 core SKUs. Tubby Todd has an estimated annual revenue of $3M.
26. Bloomeffects
5-year search growth: 1,000%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2019
Location: New York City, New York
Funding: $2M (Seed)
What they do: Bloomeffects is a clean beauty brand that claims to not use parabens, sulfates, and fragrance in its formulas. The startup also has a skincare range formulated with a tulip complex. Estimates suggest a nearly 3x year-over-year revenue growth with forecasted sales of $3.7M in 2021.
27. Glossier
5-year search growth: -34%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2010
Location: New York, New York
Funding: $266.4M (Series E)
What they do: Glossier is a direct-to-consumer makeup and skincare company that began as the beauty blog Into The Gloss. Founder Emily Weiss states that Glossier was built on the idea that the beauty industry should follow the demands of the consumer, rather than have the consumer chase trends started in boardrooms. At launch, the brand offered only four products: a lip balm, a face mist, a priming moisturizer, and a skin tint foundation. Today, the trendy company offers 73 products for their subtle, natural effect designed to achieve the “no-makeup” makeup look.
28. Virtue Labs
5-year search growth: 32%
Search growth status: Regular
Year founded: 2015
Location: Raleigh, North Carolina
Funding: $73.5M (Corporate Round)
What they do: Virtue Labs is a keratin-based haircare brand. The company uses Alpha Keratin 60ku in its products to reduce frizz and boost hair color vibrancy. The brand provides personalized suggestions based on customers’ input via its DTC e-commerce channel.
29. MyGlamm
5-year search growth: 1,100%
Search growth status: Peaked
Year founded: 2015
Location: Mumbai, India
Funding: $288.4M (Series D)
What they do: MyGlamm is a beauty products marketplace. The company’s online storefront has more than 600 stock-keeping units (SKUs) in the cosmetics and personal care markets. MyGlamm achieved a $100M valuation following its recent funding in March 2021.
30. Heyday
5-year search growth: 380%
Search growth status: Exploding
Year founded: 2015
Location: New York City, New York
Funding: $51.4M (Series B)
What they do: Heyday operates a network of salons offering facials. The startup also has an online store retailing skin and body care products. Heyday claims to have completed more than 250,000 facials across 10 locations in the United States. The startup hit a revenue run rate of $25M before lockdown restrictions.
Conclusion
These 30 thriving beauty startups represent shifts in consumers’ desires towards simplified, customized, and clean beauty.
As the millennial generation moves to make up the largest consumer segment, beauty brands like the ones on this list cater to them with an online subscription-based business model. Beauty startups are also targeting health and environmentally conscious consumers with reusable packaging, transparency, and simple branding.
