Arcaea and Olaplex leverage expressive biology to “regenerate” haircare space

31 Jan 2022 --- Arcaea, a subsidiary of Ginkgo Bioworks, and Olaplex, a technology-driven hair health company, are joining forces to “transform” the hair care industry through new ingredient developments and hair and scalp programs.

Arcaea aims to build a regenerative future for the beauty industry through expressive biology – where biology is used as a creative tool for self-expression.

The company will build a new supply chain that is not reliant on petrochemicals or the harvesting and depletion of natural resources by cultivating industry-leading, safe and sustainable ingredients.

To achieve this, the expressive biology company will grow new ingredients and product experiences for beauty by leveraging technology such as DNA sequencing, biological engineering and fermentation to activate storytelling.

Arcaea is initiating hair and scalp care programs to expand consumers’ tools to strengthen and protect their hair and scalp across the professional, specialty retail and direct-to-consumer channels.

Regenerative future for beauty industry
Through the partnership and expressive biology method, Aracae plans to create new “unimagined” or inaccessible ingredients.

Commenting on the partnership, Jasmina Aganovic, founder and CEO of Arcaea, says, “Olaplex’s insight and expertise in hair care, as well as a shared desire to see new advances to improve consumer health in an industry ripe for innovation, is reflective of the shared future we want to see.”Arcaea aims to shift the beauty industry from industrial chemistry to a more regenerative future powered by expressive biology.

Olaplex will provide technology that will help to solve real consumer problems surrounding haircare, comments JuE Wong, president and CEO of Olaplex.

This partnership move with Olaplex follows Arcaea’s gain of US$78 million in series A funding to create sustainable, previously inaccessible ingredients for the industry through expressive biology.

The financing was from a consortium of strategic and financial investors, including Olaplex, Cascade Investment, Viking Global, CHANEL, Givaudan and Wittington Ventures.

Through the Series A funding, Arcaea will begin multiple technical programs to generate a pipeline of ingredients and brand launches in major beauty sectors. Additionally, the mix of expertise across the industry’s value chain will enable Arcaea to begin its technical programs.

Haircare advancements
Within the haircare space, advancements in technology have improved hair care routines. Recently, L’Oréal Groupe introduced two coloring products, Coloright and Colorsonic, which use AI and other technologies to provide personalization.

Meanwhile, LG and hair care brands CHI and Farouk Systems unveiled LG CHI Color Master Factory, pegged as the “world’s first-ever color machine.”

Moves that merged biology and beauty
Industry players have been exploring biology and its potential in the beauty space.

Previously, Amyris enlisted Inscripta’s genome engineering platform Onyx – a synthetic biology technology – to enhance its sustainable fermented ingredients R&D pipeline across several personal care segments, including clean beauty.

Green Mountain Biotech, with its team of experts in biology, partnered with Acme Hardesty to bring its Botaniplex portfolio to the US and Canadian markets.

Edited by Nicole Kerr

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