OurX adds a tech twist to the black hair care regimen

Ceci Kurzman has spent much of her career building and investing in brands and serving as one of the few black female board members of companies including Lanvin, Revlon and Warner Music+.

While investing on behalf of some clients interested in beauty and personal care, Kurzman saw a gap in the types of products available to multicultural groups and decided to act.

“I started looking for some sort of successful, best-in-class business that was direct-to-consumer and used all of the business model innovations that were table stakes at that time, like commerce electronics, personalization, cleaning, data driven, inclusive and sustainable, and I haven’t found anything close,” Kurzman told TechCrunch. “When I couldn’t find something to invest in, I went out and I set up groups that targeted a demographic that was millennial professionals, avid consumers, and we surveyed 30,000 of them, and we found that 60% weren’t getting what ‘they wanted. and I still felt stuck.

From this research was born OurX, the latest company to enter the black hair care industry, currently valued at $2.51 billion. The company’s proprietary technology draws on six years of research and data mining to create hair regimens and education for tight textured scalp and hair.

The first step is to complete the four-step hair assessment which asks questions about the health of your hair, the type of styling and treatments you perform, your daily routine and your lifestyle. At the end, it features a range of products, a hair coach, and a peer community to help you better use the products. It also includes a series of guided home video tests to provide an even more accurate reading of their hair and scalp attributes. Throughout the assessment experience, users receive feedback and instructional tips based on the contributions they provide.

OurX currently offers seven products, and the average diet of products offered is between $115 and $130. Individual access to hair coaches is available via subscription.

The product’s treatment regimen is influenced by a group of experts, including dermatologist Jenna Lester, celebrity hairstylist Johnny Wright and hairstylist Cataanda James.

Alongside the launch, OurX announced that it had a new CEO, Meghan Maupin. Maupin, an MIT graduate, previously founded personalized skincare brand, Atolla, which was acquired by Function of Beauty in 2021.

“When I delved deeper into hair care, I saw that there was actually a huge need for personalization, for this particular consumer,” Maupin said in an interview. “For consumers with textured hair, it’s not one size fits all, but it’s actually a lot more complex in terms of what’s needed on a day-to-day basis.”

Like Kurzman, Maupin entered the beauty industry to change things, noting that she saw “a lot of things in beauty that were broken,” and with her background in data and technology, knew she could solve some of these problems.

Meanwhile, OurX also launched with a $2.5 million seed round led by Reign Ventures.

“We were very intent on having a diverse cap table, so being able to choose and design our cap table was really important,” Kurzman said. “We wanted investors who understood the mission, understood the need and understood the market. We are fortunate to have been able to fund this cycle primarily with women and women of color, and there are allies in this as well.