Plant Power — The Future of Fibers
As venture investors, we get excited about companies that join together typically unconnected industries in new ways that create a competitive advantage. We were particularly excited to meet the founders of Aja Labs, a startup focused on creating the next generation of safer-for-people and safer-for-the-planet fibers. Their approach to melding the worlds of beauty and materials science made perfect sense for one of our first Fund IV investments.
Aja Labs is starting their journey focused on creating an environmentally safe, plastic-free hair extension and will eventually expand their business to creating safe fibers of many kinds. One of our criteria for investment opportunities is that the founders have a personal connection to the problem their company solves. Founders Osahon Ojeaga and Mary Ellen Moore both strongly display this, spurred to start Aja Labs after negative experiences with synthetic hair extensions that burned their scalps.
The beauty industry, and in particular the Black beauty industry, has often been underestimated by the business world. But the market opportunity is huge and growing rapidly, with hair extensions representing an essential personal product for the many Black women who purchase them (an average annual spend of $2,000 per capita). The market for hair extensions and wigs is expected to double to $13B by 2026 and is growing rapidly both inside and outside the Black community thanks to key social media influencers who are increasingly wearing hair extensions.
Unfortunately, Black women have fewer choices for beauty products that prioritize sustainability and health. For example, the health and environmental hazards from synthetic hair abound — it can burn the scalp and pollute the environment. The current alternative, human hair, has an opaque supply chain with questionable practices.
Nourie, Aja Labs’ first consumer focused product, is engineered from plant-based biopolymers. It mimics human hair and is plastic free.
Enter Aja Lab’s solution, Nourie. Their sustainable hair extensions are engineered from plant-based biopolymers, which means they are plastic free and biodegradable. The biopolymers are also unique in that they mimic real human hair. The priority placed on feel, elasticity, and durability of the product is beneficial both to the consumer and stylists working with the hair extensions. Even more impressive, the Aja team has engineered them in such a way to provide a time-released nourishment mechanism to the scalp, a clear advantage over current consumer options. The result is a brilliant solution that marries crop waste and green chemistry.
Co-founder Mary Ellen Moore busy in the lab engineering Aja Labs’ products.
Founders Osahon Ojeaga and Mary Ellen Moore are impressive and mission driven. Osahon possesses incredible vision and business acumen. As mentioned previously, she has a strong personal connection to the mission and is dedicated to building out a team that reflects herself and other Black women, too rare in the startup world. Mary Ellen Moore holds a BS and MS in polymer chemistry and a PhD in materials science and engineering. She literally was building rockets before joining Aja Labs, and her strong technical expertise shows in the innovation of the materials.
Aja Labs was incubated in the IndieBio accelerator, and we’re proud to be co-investing in the company with Impact America Fund. Nourie has yet to be publicly launched, but you can follow along on their website to get updates on their planned release.
