January 11, 2024

Myavana’s New Retail Partnership With Ulta Beauty Brings Instant AI Hair Analysis To Shoppers

Candace Mitchell Harris

Beauty-tech company Myavana has announced a new retail partnership with retailer Ulta Beauty, along with investments from Prisma Ventures and BrainTrustFund.

Myavana is the brainchild of computer scientist Candace Mitchell Harris.

Harris founded the company in 2012 with the aim of revolutionizing personal and professional textured hair care through data-driven science and technology.

With a deep understanding of the unique hair challenges of women of color and women with textured hair faces, Myavana introduced a suite of innovative textured hair care science and technology products.

Read: Myavana Taps AI To Personalize WOC’s Hair Solutions

Elevating retail with AI hair analysis

Prisma Ventures, Ulta Beauty’s Digital Innovation Fund, invested strategically in Myavana to support the company’s hair care retail innovation within the beauty industry.

Ulta Beauty will integrate Myavana’s advanced HairAI hair analysis technology within their e-commerce try-on experiences.

This will power personalized product recommendations based on instant hair type analysis of their guests.

“Through our personalized hair care technology that will innovate and elevate our shopping experiences, we’re excited to bring to market better identification and understanding of our unique hair strands and unique hair journeys while partnering with the nation’s largest beauty retailer that prioritizes innovation and inclusion,” said Harris.

Ulta Beauty and Myavana will also explore the co-development of AI-powered hair technologies for future retail innovation.

Investments

BrainTrust Fund, which invests in breakthrough brands led by at least one Black founder, also made a strategic investment alongside Prismas Ventures.

The funds will go towards their enterprise retail expansion, including salon channels and global product distribution, leveraging the company’s consumer intelligence across the hair industry.

“Myavana is emerging as a leader in beauty AI because its hair strand analysis super-serves every customer in this valuable marketplace, from the shopper seeking a personalized diagnosis, to retailers and stylists wanting to sell the right products to shoppers the first time,” said BrainTrust Fund General Partners Kendra Bracken-Ferguson and Lisa Stone.

Sara Keenan

Tech Reporter at POCIT. Following her master's degree in journalism, Sara cultivated a deep passion for writing and driving positive change for Black and Brown individuals across all areas of life. This passion expanded to include the experiences of Black and Brown people in tech thanks to her internship experience as an editorial assistant at a tech startup.