Kiki World, a beauty tech startup that aims to usher the cosmetics industry into the era of web3, announced today that it raised $7 million in an initial funding round. (Scroll down to view the full pitch deck.)
The round was led by New Incubation Ventures (NIV), a new venture capital division of The Estée Lauder Companies, and a16z crypto, an arm of Andreessen Horowitz focused on crypto and web3 startups.
This pairing, while unusual, gets to the heart of the collaborative, blockchain-powered vision that Kiki World’s founders have for innovation in the beauty industry.
“The next generation of brands won’t be people concocting things offline and then using the internet to sell things,” Jana Bobosikova, the startup’s co-founder and CEO, told ADWEEK. Instead, they will use the “internet as the creative medium that it is to collaborate, connect and then, from that, [create a] physical object.”
Founded early last year, Kiki World participated in a16z crypto’s 2023 Crypto Startup Accelerator program, which led to the fund’s investment. NIV invested in November 2022 before the company’s launch.
The model works by letting customers vote on criteria like product types, launch timelines and colors, recording those votes using blockchain technology and rewarding participation through Ethereum-based Kiki points. The points are then redeemable for dollars, Bobosikova explained, creating a loyalty program that rewards participation even before a sale.
“Ninety-nine percent of the folks that are devout voters do not realize that they’re taking actions on the chain,” she said. “That, from both a [user experience] and software perspective, is an accomplishment. We’re not using blockchain for the sake of blockchain.”
In the last year, Kiki World has launched five product collections with input from its customers, including skincare line The Skin Development Kit and Pretty Nail Graffiti, a nail pen that lets people choose the next color. The pen, made of aluminum, is also industrially refillable and includes a near-field communication tag that lets Kiki reward consumers that send back their empties to be refilled.
Later this month, the company plans to release new tools and applications that will let creators and brands integrate with the platform to co-create products with fans in the Kiki community.
“The Kiki brand with their custom-built platform is leveraging the forefront of web3 tech to rethink the future of how consumers can co-create with brands and engage in new and relevant ways,” Shana Randhava, svp at NIV, said in a statement. “This exploration of a new consumer-centric model provides [The Estée Lauder Companies] with a valuable window into the future of beauty.”
Additional investors include consumer tech funds 2 Punks Capital, Advancit Capital and Double Down, digital communities Orange Dao and Red Dao, and the digital creator GMoney.
“Historically, there’s been a deep connection between high-quality consumer brands and their customers, but it has been without direct input from the community,” Arianna Simpson, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, said in a statement. “Kiki is now breaking down that barrier by letting consumers directly weigh in on what products they want to see created next.”
Check out Kiki World’s full 19-page pitch deck:
