Kiki World, a beauty brand that uses web3 for customer co-creation and ownership, raises $7M from a16z

Should you suppose that selecting a nail polish colour or which substances go into your face cream can’t have something to do with blockchain, suppose once more.

Kiki World, a magnificence startup launched final yr, needs shoppers to co-create merchandise and co-own the corporate with the assistance of web3 expertise.

On Tuesday, LA-based Kiki introduced that it raised a $7 million seed spherical from the Andreessen Horowitz crypto fund and The Estée Lauder Corporations’ New Incubation Ventures, together with different backers reminiscent of Orange DAO and a couple of Punks Capital.  

Kiki co-founder Jana Bobosikova stated she believes that being a loyal person of a model within the Net 2.0 world could be a web damaging expertise. “You most likely have watched a number of creators on TikTok advocate it to you. You most likely beneficial it to all your mates. And what do you get for that? Simply extra retargeted adverts,” she stated.

Kiki is flipping that mannequin by permitting its group members to vote on the options they need earlier than the wonder merchandise are made. As a reward, voters earn factors towards free merchandise and obtain digital tokens within the firm.    

“It’s a dynamic that the web and your lavatory haven’t seen but,” Bobosikova stated. (She could also be proper in regards to the lavatory, although in fact, the web has seen loads of prospects vote on merchandise and earn digital tokens for his or her participation.)

Because it’s not unusual for cosmetics firms to search out themselves with massive piles of stock they will’t promote, one other advantage of Kiki’s on-demand method is that it makes use of much less capital and sources.

Though members’ product votes are recorded on Ethereum, Bobosikova stated some members don’t must know they’re taking motion on blockchain. Customers can sign up with an electronic mail, and voila, Kiki has created an on-chain account that may retailer the members’ votes into perpetuity.  

a16z determined to again Kiki after the startup accomplished its 10-week crypto startup accelerator program. “Jana is a pressure of nature. She was one of many issues that almost all drew us to the corporate,” stated Arianna Simpson, a common companion on the agency. “She has unimaginable experience within the magnificence area, but additionally a singular understanding of web3, which isn’t at all times one thing we see if we’ve got a founder popping out of a extra conventional trade.”

Previous to founding Kiki, the Czech-born Bobosikova was the CEO of Epic Future Labs, a product improvement and model improvements company.

Simpson famous that Kiki will not be the agency’s solely wager on an organization that rewards prospects utilizing blockchain expertise. Final yr, a16z led a $24 million Series A of Blackbird Labs, a hospitality tech firm that developed a loyalty program that incentivizes visitors to dine in impartial eating places.

For now, Kiki has launched 5 product collections, together with a nail polish pen, for which shoppers can select the following colour Kiki will manufacture.

However, as Simpson identified, Kiki has plans to finally develop past the world of magnificence.

How lengthy will it’s till it’s potential to vote on denims kinds or purse sizes? Maybe some time.

“We have now confronted insane challenges on the bodily facet of issues,” Bobosikova stated, including that some merchandise take for much longer to fabricate than others. “The ability of asking folks what they need and giving it to them, it’s very, quite simple. It’s simply very onerous to do.”