Madison Color gets $4M for personal hair-care delivery

Former Maveron VC Amy Errett tackles the hair care business with online subscription service

(Updated to reflect comment from Madison Color)

Subscription commerce is a space that is heating up very quickly. There startups for virtually anything you can imagine, from shoes, clothes, craft kits, and educational kid’s toys, to makeup, snacks, tampons, green living, condoms, and sex toys. Things you are either too embarrassed, or too lazy, to go to the store to get yourself.

I know plenty of women, and men, who color their hair, as I'm sure we all do. And most of them would really would rather that nobody know about it, thank you very much.

That is where Madison Color, a company that focuses on the home hair care market, and specifically on home hair color, comes in. The company has closed a $4 million Series A funding round, it was announced Monday.

True Ventures led the round, with Maveron LLC and angel investors also participating. Madison Color plans to use the money to "build a great product, team and launch into market," co-founder and CEO Amy Errett told VatorNews.

In addition to the funding, the company also announced the addition of True Ventures partner Jon Callaghan to its board of directors.

The San Francisco-based company Madison Color has it in mind to reinvent every aspect of the hair care business, first by producing and delivering professional-grade products free of ammonia and other harmful chemicals. These products, it says, will be healthier and will be delivered directly to the customer's home. Madison Color will also incorporate cross-platform technology, including Web, mobile, tablet, social and content.

"We believe that we need to educate women on the toxic nature of most of the existing hair coloring product availabile, a core tent in Madison's mission is healthier for you and looks great," said Errett.

The hair care business is ripe for innovation. It is a $48 billion annual market, with hair coloring alone respresenting $15 billion, with over 45 million women in the U.S. alone who do it themselves at home.

The company's biggest competitors, Errett said, are "retail and salons, nothing direct to consumer." When it comes to big retailers like Amazon, Madison Color has the advantage because of its "professional grade non ammonia product that has lots of tech enabled enhancements."

"We have rethought the entire at home experience and will delver professional grade hair coloring that is healthier for you with simple ways to apply and it will achieve a great result all with affordability and convenience," she said.

Madison Color launched two weeks ago and is set to debut in the fall of this year. The company does not yet have any customers, but is targeting women from the ages of 25 to 65. Each shipment will be $24.95.

The philosophy behind the company, Errett said, is to "produce a better for you product that was salon grade and cater to the active/busy woman who does not want to spend $150 at a salon every 4-6 weeks."

(Image source: https://www.madisoncolor.com)