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Parfait - Computer Vision Powered Hair Products.

The Company: Parfait is the first direct-to-consumer wig customization platform that uses computer vision to accurately detect head measurements and skin tone to provide truly tailored hair wigs and extensions, utilizing just four pictures. Customers select and customize the features that matter most, like texture length and style, with opportunities to connect directly with a stylist to answer any questions, from what hairstyles will work best for your needs, to the best ways to install your wig and care for your hair.  

Meet the Founders

The Founders: Founded by four women with combined experience working at Amazon, Microsoft, Capital One, Google, IBM, Waymo and NASA, the company’s founders are applying their Wharton MBAs and MIT PHDs to build a proprietary algorithm that they hope will revolutionize the way tech interacts with communities of color.  From left to right: Isoken (CEO), Ifueko (CTO), Marlyse, (COO), Simone (CMO)

Lead Investors: Upfront Ventures & Serena Ventures (Serena Williams).

Other Investors: Ulu Ventures, True Capital Management, Unshackled Ventures, Contrary Capital, Visible Hands, Tristan Walker (Founder of Walker & Co), Omar Johnson (former CMO at Beats by Dre).

Access Club Leads: Kelly Rowland will be the Access Club lead and will be advising for the company also.

The Product: A parfait customer will receive a high quality custom wig styled to their preference and each wig has the lace pre-cut, the hairline already plucked, and the wig lace is customized to match the color of the customer's skin. The value proposition revolves around the concept that this hair product looks like natural hair (instead of an obvious wig, it's easy to install, and it doesn't require the hair glue that historically has been damaging to a woman's natural hair.

They are also building a virtual try on experience: As a customer walks through creating their new look, they will also see themselves in each style, giving them full confidence that the new look they are creating looks good on them before purchasing their wig. 

The Pros:  The team, disruption opportunity, marketing strength, and tech.

Team: The founding team has a great deal of domain expertise and experience and have the type of attributes that you would want to see in a founding team.

Market: Hair is a $100 billion business globally and Black women are the #1 consumer spending 9 times more on hair care than any other demographic. Parfait currently has more than 10,000 potential customers on their waiting list.

Strategics: Parfait is working with the same marketing agency that has Lebron James as a client. The marketing agency is an advisor for their company so they will be receiving shares in exchange for the marketing and advising. The team has done a great job of putting a lot of the right pieces in place in this early stage.

Technology: Most hair companies just sell wigs and hair products but this company has a technology based foundation and the automated intelligence and computer vision aspects of the product make this more appealing.

The Risks:  The supply chain, competition, stylist participation, and a higher entry point.

Supply Chain: There are always risks associated with investing in startups and it will definitely be difficult to disrupt a supply chain that hasn't seen much innovation, and is controlled by China.

Competition: Mayvenn is the major competitor in the space and they have the largest marketshare of any other black owned company. They have a cheaper price point and seem to be targeting the lower end of the market, but Parfait maintains the stance that a more quality / premium product is needed because there is a large audience of women that are frustrated by the lack of easily accessible and customizable high quality wigs.

Partners: Traditional stylists that install wigs will be valuable to the on-demand service part of the business and it will be a challenge to get this audience to feel like this will benefit them and not disrupt their business at scale.

Price Sensitivity: One thing we can all agree on is customers are very picky about products they purchase at higher price points. These wigs will be above $700 - $1000 so consumers will need to feel like the quality and brand is worth that investment.

Terms:  The company has already closed a $5M fundraise and their round is currently oversubscribed. We were able to get a $200k allocation and will be looking to close via an Access Club SPV by next week. This will be a priced round at a $17.5M post valuation.

The funds be used to increase production, automate supply chain capabilities, and to scale the business model to reach new customers.

Final Takeaway:  When it comes to investing in startups you are ultimately betting on people and teams that you believe have the ability to build a valuable company. It's no secret that black women receive less than 1% of total venture funding so these founders have already defied the conventional odds. Some of the best companies are built by founders who started off solving problems that actually impacted them personally, and this company feels positioned to have a real shot at attacking an industry that is overdue for some disruption.