Arey Secures Series A Funding Led by Unilever Ventures

by · WWD
AreyKelsey Fugere

Arey, a Los Angeles-based hair care company specializing in aging hair, has a new investor — Unilever Ventures.

Existing investors Greycroft and Female Founders Fund also participated in the series A fund-raise. Other terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Arey was launched in 2021 by entrepreneur Allison Conrad and celebrity hairstylist Jay Small, and offers products formulated with vitamins, antioxidants and peptides meant to help delay and repigment gray hair.

Related Articles

Body Care

Bubble Skincare Alumni Launch LeNose, Bringing Luxury Hand Soaps to the Masses

Fragrance

Annick Goutal Makes U.S. Comeback With Bloomingdale's Launch Under Interparfums Luxury Brands

“Graying hair has long been accepted as an unavoidable part of aging. Arey has challenged that assumption, pioneering a category focused on proactively supporting hair health with solutions combining topicals and supplementation. The publication of its first clinical trial underpins the brand’s commitment to scientific rigor,” said Izzy Hemington, principal at Unilever Ventures, who now sits on the board of Arey.

The new round of funding will support Arey’s new product development, ongoing clinical research, larger retail expansion, new hires and continued education around the category, the founders said.

“We’re excited to have them as partners because we feel very close to them,” said Conrad in an interview. “It’s not money to fuel just the running of the business. We can run our business off of operating income. It’s to fuel R&D. We have a new potential extension line that we are looking at doing in 2028, and it will require cash. We’re pursuing more studies. We’ve talked about launching in larger retailers. We’ve put that off for now, just because this product takes time, education, and it’s not just an impulse buy off the shelf from a retailer. So we’re trying to be thoughtful about the retail partnerships.”

This comes as the brand gears up for the publication of its first clinical trial in the Journal of Drugs and Dermatology in November. The randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, third-party study, found that 88 percent of those on The System (supplement and serum combination) had fewer or no new gray hairs. Participants also reported three times thicker, fuller, shinier hair versus a placebo.

“In numerical numbers, the study can prove that this is effective in all aspects of hair health,” said Conrad.

Small also highlighted a new data point from the study showing that 39 percent of participants saw repigmentation. “It’s this moment where we feel more comfortable saying that we can reverse gray hair. We can do something if you get in there early enough. There’s the opportunity,” he said.

Arey’s series A investment follows the 2023 Series Seed led by Greycroft and Female Founders Fund, as well as strategic investors in the beauty industry, including David Olsen, CEO of RMS Beauty and Geraldine Martin-Coppola, former president of Goop.