Global Brain has invested in Blank Beauty, Inc. (Blank Beauty), a startup developing and providing a custom color cosmetics platform, through its EP-GB L.P. (EP-GB). Blank Beauty is a US-based startup that provides custom color cosmetic products through a manufacturing and distribution platform that integrates both digital and physical channels. The company currently operates an e-commerce business for color nail polish and a retail business in the US through Huey, a kiosk-type device that allows users to mix color nail polish in retail stores. Users can not only create and name their own custom color manicure from smartphone photos or camera images and quickly purchase it via e-commerce or at Huey-equipped stores but also share their custom colors and track engagement through social features. This user experience is the result of the company’s proprietary technologies that combines a robotics-based low-volume, high-mix manufacturing system, software consisting of data, recipes, and color mixing algorithms that faithfully reflect digital colors into real colors based on trends and user preferences, and expertise in the chemical properties of raw materials. Currently, cosmetic products are mainly mass-produced in small lots by major brands and manufacturers, and users usually choose products according to their tastes and preferences. In order to get the products that meet their tastes, users have to mix colors by hand or visit a salon, which requires a lot of time and effort. However, with the growing awareness of sustainability and diversifying values, there is a need to provide cosmetic products that meet users’ preferences while minimizing raw material waste. The Blank Beauty platform allows users to create a wide variety of cosmetic products exactly the way they want them, while minimizing raw material loss, location, and time constraints. Blank Beauty’s technology can be applied to liquid cosmetic products in general, and we aim to expand our business not only to nail polish, which is currently available, but also to gel nail polish and liquid foundations. With this financing, Blank Beauty aims to revolutionize the industrial structure of the cosmetics industry by strengthening its e-commerce and retail businesses, expanding applied cosmetic product categories by accelerating R&D, and further promoting the spread of its custom color cosmetic platform through marketing and recruitment. Global Brain has decided to invest in Blank Beauty based on the leadership of the founders and the capabilities of the team, the potential of the growing cosmetics market, Blank Beauty’s unique technology and intellectual property, and its track record of rapid business development in the US. Through this investment, Global Brain will support Blank Beauty to contribute to innovation in the cosmetics industry.

About Blank Beauty

Location: Knoxville, Tennessee, US
CEO: Charles Brandon
Founded: October 2016
URL: https://www.blankbeauty.com

About EP-GB

Name: EP-GB L.P.
Fund Term: 10 years
Fund Size: JPY 5 billion
General Partner: Global Brain Corporation

About Global Brain

Location: Tokyo, Japan
Representative: Yasuhiko Yurimoto
Founded: January 1998
URL: https://globalbrains.com

Global Brain has invested in Blank Beauty, Inc., a startup developing and providing custom color cosmetics platform