Proven, a skin care brand that recommends personalized products from an artificial intelligence-based test, has raised $12.2 million in a series A funding round.
The funding round was led by existing investors, with NewH2 Ventures as the lead investor. NewH2 is a Hong Kong-based venture capital firm that invests in nutrition and care companies.
Proven is incorporated in Delaware, but its principal place of business is on Fourth Street North in St. Petersburg, according to a regulatory filing. Proven is a fully remote company with employees across the United States and Canada. It has a significant presence in San Francisco. There are no employees centrally located in St. Petersburg, but Ming Zhao, the co-founder and CEO of Proven, is based in Florida, according to Julie Halpin, a spokesperson.
Proven maintains two brands, Proven Skincare and Noteworthy. Proven Skincare is an AI-powered skin care personalization; Noteworthy is a personalized fragrance company.
“Since Proven launched in 2019, we have built industry-leading technology that allows us to create personalized beauty products unlike anything ever available to the public, and this new funding allows us to continue our essential work of making personalized skin care and fragrance the standard,” Zhao said in a prepared statement.
The company sells personalized products based on its “proprietary Skin Genome Project,” a large beauty database, according to the release. After taking a three-minute quiz, Proven's algorithm compiles a formula of ingredients specialized to one’s skin.
The new funding will be used to grow the company’s two brands by introducing new products, improving the technology, and developing marketing and partnerships, according to the release. It will also be used to hire new employees, according to the release. There are no specific plans to hire in St. Petersburg, according to Halpin.
The funding matches a growth period for the company. In 2023, Proven launched Noteworthy, and Proven Skincare expanded into Europe and the United Kingdom. It was granted two patents and partnered with beauty products retailer Sephora.
The company “has reached break-even and will be profitable by year’s end,” according to the release. Proven previously raised $6 million in seed funding and around $3 million in Regulation A+ funding.
“I’m often asked why personalization is so important, and the truth is, none of us would use a one-size-fits-all-all medicine to cure the body of an ailment. So if we wouldn’t take that approach to the rest of our body, why should we settle for basic beauty products that aren’t personalized to our unique needs?” Zhao said in a prepared statement.
Proven Skincare received the 2018 MIT Artificial Intelligence Technology Award.
