Straand has received $2 million in pre-seed funding from Unilever Ventures, the venture capital arm of Unilever.
The funding represents the Australian flake-fighting haircare brand’s first institutional capital and comes as the dandruff category is being reimagined by big and small brands the likes of Jupiter, Ouai, Typology and Hairitage by Mindy offering alternatives to Head & Shoulders, the Procter & Gamble-owned market share leader. The brands believe heightened interest in ingredients and scalp care, premiumization of categories long relegated to commodity status and destigmization of once-shameful issues such as dandruff are driving up demand for their alternatives.
“Dandruff and broader scalp concerns are a significant and much-maligned condition globally. There has been limited innovation in the scalp health category for many years, and it is ripe for disruption,” says Rachel Harris, partner at Unilever Ventures, in a statement. “Straand stood out with its microbiome-focused formulations, bold branding, youthful appeal and affordable positioning.”
There’s a large market to disrupt, and the funding from Unilever Ventures will assist Straand in doing so. The brand estimates that about 80% of people deal with scalp issues of all sorts. Studies have shown up to 50% of the worldwide population has dandruff. Data Bridge Market Research forecasts the global dandruff segment will advance at a compound annual growth rate of 6.3% to generate nearly $13.25 billion in 2029 sales versus almost $8.13 billion in 2021 sales.
Straand’s founding team consists of five beauty and wellness veterans who connected through professional endeavors and aligned on a vision for dandruff products situated price-wise between salons and drugstores: Sarah Hamilton, co-founder of skincare brand Sand & Sky; Nick Morris, former GM at manufacturer Natural Beauty Care; Jeremy Hunt, former COO at distributor Health More; Tim Brown, former chief business officer at Health More; and Meagan Pate, a brand consultant and former group business manager at News Corp.
Along with the founders, four people currently work full-time at Straand, but that number is set to increase as it expands. Launched in July, the brand has exceeded sales expectations to date, according to Pate. “We are super excited to see what opening overseas markets will do for revenue,” she says, adding, “We are paying close attention to our economics and how we can be considerate in approaching each market to be in a revenue-positive place.” Straand declined to divulge a revenue projection for 2023.
Straand’s haircare assortment includes shampoo The Crown Cleanse, conditioner The Head Doctor, scrub The Miracle Worker Scrub and scalp serum The Crown Fix. Its accessory assortment includes a scalp brush, detangler comb and microfiber hair towel. Priced from $14.95 to $27.95, the products are housed in vibrant orange, blue and white packaging. Early bestsellers are The Crown Cleanse and The Crown Fix. Straand’s core customers are women in their twenties and thirties.
“There has been limited innovation in the scalp health category for many years, and it is ripe for disruption.”
“In this category, there’s been no pride. It’s been focused on eliminating and treating, and being embarrassment-prone. We wanted to flip that on its head,” Pate told Beauty Independent last year.
In Australia, Straand uses the descriptor “concentrated anti-dandruff” on its haircare products. The United States has stricter dandruff treatment regulations than Australia, and over-the-counter products with dandruff claims in the U.S. must contain salicylic acid, zinc pyrithione, coal tar, selenium sulfide, sulfur or ketoconazole as an active ingredient.
Straand’s hero ingredient is a prebiotic rosebay extract it dubs Defenscalp, and the brand is sticking to scalp care terminology instead of dandruff claims for the U.S. Scalp care in recent years has spread from hair growth to dandruff products.
Straand premiered on Adore Beauty three months ago. Within its initial week of availability at the Australian e-tailer, the brand sold out, and Adore placed a second order. Salons are another distribution avenue for Straand, and it’s at The Blow in Melbourne with a service Pate sums up as “a facial for your scalp.”
She says, “The relationship that hairdressers have with their customers, it’s a deep and rich relationship. When it comes to scalp concerns, they really trust their hairdressers, and scalp concerns can be an intimate topic for a lot of people. So, by being able to forge relationships with salons, we can help remove the shame or stigma of dandruff.”
On Thursday, Straand will start selling via direct-to-consumer distribution in the U.S., where Ulta Beauty and Urban Outfitters are among the retailers it’s aiming to break into. The brand has readied inventory to go live on Amazon in the U.S. shortly. China, United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe are also on Straand’s roadmap. Brown and Hunt have extensive experience selling products in China, and the brand was developed to suit the country’s product preferences and legal standards.
Straand has four stockkeeping units on deck for release this year. “We think the category and consumers will evolve to have a deeper understanding of dandruff and scalp concerns as a wellness category as much as a beauty category,” says Pate. “We are very much focused on understanding the skin microbiome, bacteria and sebum, and how to create products that work with them rather than trying to mask or blast the problem.”
Unilever Ventures has notched a few notable wins of late. Its investments in Nutrafol, Curlsmith and Gallinée paid off with 2022 exits to Unilever, Helen of Troy and Shiseido, respectively. Straand joins a sizable collection of beauty and wellness brands in the firm’s portfolio like Plant People, Beauty Bakerie, BYBI, Exponent, Trinny London, Esqa and True Botanicals, which publication Women’s Wear Daily reported has been mulling deal options. Investment bank Lempriere Wells provided fundraising guidance to Straand.
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