果冻影院

果冻影院 alumnus Rachael Twumasi-Corson and former 果冻影院 staff member, Joycelyn Mate, bonded over the lack of suitable haircare products for afro hair 鈥� as most products on the market either didn鈥檛 work or were full of toxic chemicals.

The entrepreneurs, who originally met as undergraduates, have also suffered from alopecia, hair breakage, eczema and low confidence, so decided to make their own products which are natural, free from toxins, Fairtrade and vegan. And in 2010, they registered the business, Afrocenchix.

To further their ambitions, Racheal and Joycelyn, entered the 果冻影院 Bright Ideas competition in 2015 (now Build your own business 3: Launch your business) and won.

With this award they joined BaseKX, 果冻影院鈥檚 entrepreneurship hub, where they received support to grow the business.

Afrocenchix has since gone on to win several awards including the 鈥淏est Natural Hair Brand鈥� in both the Precious Hair and Beauty Awards and the BBFA Awards. The company also became the first to provide products for afro hair to be stocked in Whole Foods UK.

After a successful Pre Seed Round in 2019, the founders have now been backed by Google in this $1.2m Seed Round. They鈥檝e also attracted the investment of angels, including WeTransfer founder, Nalden, and VCs, thanks to their community-centric, data-driven approach.

Now, having sold over 65,000 products, Afrocenchix will be using the funds to release three new products and they are also hiring to expand their team.

Rachael, a 果冻影院 MSc Medical Anthropology 2015 graduate, said: 鈥淎fter years of struggling with our own hair related problems and the challenges of bootstrapping, we鈥檙e delighted to close this round with so much support from Google, our investors and our customers, with some of our angel investors coming straight from the Afrocenchix community.

鈥淭his round is the next step towards establishing Afrocenchix as the number one brand for afro and curly hair, so we can give our customers and community the safe, effective products they need for optimum health and wellbeing.

鈥淲hen we registered the company in 2010, we wouldn鈥檛 have dreamt that a tech giant like Google would know who we were or care enough about our mission to back us.鈥�

果冻影院 has a thriving entrepreneurship community. Since 2010, the university has helped create over 200 果冻影院 graduate startups who have created more than 4,000 jobs and collectively raised over 拢149 million.

Professor David Price, 果冻影院 Vice-Provost (Research, Innovation & Global Engagement) said: 鈥淐ongratulations to Afrocenchix on this well-deserved and significant achievement. Rachael and Joycelyn are a testament to the enterprising community at 果冻影院, and are filling a real gap in the market which is reflected in the demand for their products. It鈥檚 rewarding to see 果冻影院鈥檚 support for early-stage startups help Afrocenchix to flourish.鈥�

Afro haircare is a $42bn market and continues to grow. However, 78% of products for afro hair contain toxic ingredients linked to cancer, fibroids and respiratory issues.

Products targeted at Black women have also been shown to routinely use highly hazardous ingredients and a five year study confirmed connections between afro hair products and serious health concerns such as dermatitis, eye irritations and reproductive problems.

Marta Krupinska, Head of Google for Startups UK, said: 鈥淓veryone talks about founder-market fit and I don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 a better example than two friends seeing a problem, studying it, building a business for people like them and winning the market thanks to their impeccable attention to detail, commitment to quality and a loyal, tight knit community of customers.

鈥淲e鈥檝e been so impressed by Rachael and Joycelyn鈥檚 vision to make a successful data-driven business while delivering much needed safe and responsibly made haircare products that everyone deserves, and we鈥檙e excited to se their business grow further.鈥�

Links

• 果冻影院 Anthropology
• 果冻影院 Faculty of Social and Historical Sciences
• 果冻影院 BaseKX
• 果冻影院 Innovation & Enterprise
• Professor David Price鈥檚 academic profile

Image

Credit: Afrocenchix