Belfast-based We Are Paradoxx, a sustainable plastics-free Irish haircare brand, has raised £3 million (€3.5 million) in funding with backers together with Tom Singh, the founding father of excessive road trend chain New Look.
The firm, which was based and is led by “unintended activist” Yolanda Cooper, has simply secured £700,000 as a part of the bigger seed spherical. Other backers embrace Northern Ireland-based buyers, Techstart Ventures, CoFund NI and a variety of enterprise angels.
The start-up has developed a haircare vary that’s plastics-free, makes use of pure and natural vegan components and is cruelty-free. It can be behind a three-in-one cordless hair software known as Supernova that consists of a straightener, wand and tong.
The firm’s merchandise are offered on-line by way of its personal web site, on Amazon and thru stockists that embrace Next, Fenwick, Harvey Nichols, ASOS, Meaghers and QVC.
The new funding is for use to additional broaden into the US market, for brand new product improvement and for additional analysis and improvement of hair instruments as a part of the corporate’s wider development plans to increase their electricals providing.
Global scaleIt is making critical inroads into a world luxurious haircare market that’s anticipated to be price $31.5 billion by 2027, with a projected compound annual development fee of 5.9 per cent, in accordance with Grand View Research.
“We are bold and we all know there’s a large alternative for We Are Paradoxx on a world scale,” mentioned Ms Cooper.
The firm has achieved 25 per cent year-on-year development through the pandemic, with on-line gross sales leaping 137 per cent. Its merchandise are at present distributed in 22 markets globally.
Ms Cooper arrange We Are Paradoxx in early 2018, after a variety of years working at Vita Liberata, the Co Antrim-based self-tanning brand based by Alyson Hogg that was offered in a £27 million to Crown Laboratories three years in the past.
‘The magnificence business produces greater than 120 billion items of packaging globally and solely 9 per cent of all plastic waste ever produced has been recycled. Consumers are not prepared to simply accept this ignorance of the setting and so are in search of sustainable options,” she mentioned.
Sustainable possibility“At the identical time, they’re turning into more and more discerning in terms of what components they apply to their pores and skin. So a high-performance, clear and sustainable possibility is de facto enticing.”
Mr Singh, who based New Look in 1969, rising the style chain from one retailer in Taunton, England, to a family title with virtually 400 shops, is a board member of We Are Paradoxx. He has an estimated internet price of £310 million, in accordance with the 2020 Sunday Times Rich List.
‘Continued innovation on new merchandise, backed by glorious branding and advertising, has pushed large traction for the brand throughout a number of areas. The crew’s focus, dedication and vitality is a big driving pressure behind the We Are Paradoxx ethos and I’m excited to see the place the following step of their journey takes them,” he mentioned.
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https://www.irishtimes.com/enterprise/retail-and-services/belfast-haircare-brand-we-are-paradoxx-raises-3m-1.4500236
