In another indication that haircare remains firmly in investors’ crosshairs, Filament, a science-driven brand drawing comparisons to bond-building pioneer Olaplex, has raised a $2 million oversubscribed seed round.

The round was led by Wittington Ventures, a family office connected to Canada’s billionaire Weston family with Arcaea, Lemme and Par Olive in its portfolio. Willow Growth Partners, whose roster of haircare investments includes Jupiter, KilgourMD, LUS and Dae, participated in the round. Until now, Filament had been bootstrapped by founder and CEO Nathan Puksta, a hairstylist and aesthetician who previously held positions at L’Oréal, Kiehl’s Since 1851 and Baxter of California.

Filament’s round comes amid a flurry of haircare dealmaking. Henkel acquired Not Your Mother’s, agreed to acquire Olaplex and invested in synthetic hair extension company Ruka through its venture capital arm Henkel Ventures. Buzzy brand Crown Affair raised a series C round from Stride Consumer Partners, which has haircare brand Odele in its portfolio, and VMG Partners took a minority stake in textured haircare specialist The Doux.

The bond-building category has produced some of haircare’s biggest exits. Olaplex reached a market capitalization of more than $15 billion following its 2021 IPO, while competitor K18 was acquired by Unilever in 2023 in a deal reportedly valued at around $500 million to $600 million. Henkel’s agreement to acquire Olaplex for $1.4 billion earlier this year reinforced investor interest in science-backed haircare brands centered on proprietary technology.

The deals are occurring as haircare has become the fastest-growing category in prestige beauty. According to first-quarter data from Circana, prestige haircare sales rose 10%, compared to 7% growth in both fragrance and skincare and 2% growth in makeup. The market research firm finds that consumers are increasingly shopping for scalp care, bond repair and restoration products.

Filament’s seed funding round follows a period of distribution expansion and could help it fuel further expansion and awareness. Covering working capital needs is another imperative. The brand has so far prioritized investment in research and development and clinical trials over branding and marketing.

Filament made its exclusive retail debut with Violet Grey in January, where it sold through eight weeks’ worth of inventory of its $48 TS.02/Tt: Tensile Strength Hair Treatment Mask in three hours. By April, Filament had partnered with salon distributor The Four Star Companies to gain placement in the top 2% of salons nationwide, or approximately 3,000 accounts, according to Puksta, along with an additional 1,000 to 1,500 dermatology and aesthetics clinics. Puksta informed Women’s Wear Daily that professional channels account for a majority of the brand’s current sales.

Filament soft-launched in July of last year at about 20 salons and dermatologists’ offices, including Park Avenue Dermatology, with TS.02/Tt [PRO], a professional-strength version of its mask formulated for performance post-chemical services. It contains double the concentration of Filament’s patented active molecule Tensilyx, the technology at the heart of the brand’s hair-strengthening claims.

Filament conducted clinical testing of TS.02/Tt across a wide range of hair types and textures, measuring tensile strength before and after use and demonstrating a quantifiable increase in hair strength. Unlike many bond-building products, Filament’s technology is designed to stay within the hair structure over time, with benefits lasting up to 10 weeks without continuous use.

In an interview with Beauty Independent in April, Puksta argued that scientific credibility alone isn’t enough to win in beauty. “There’s the science of it, and then there’s the look and feel of it, which I think is as important as the science, because at the end of the day, we’re in the beauty industry,” he says. “It was important to deliver this science, but then also this multi-hyphenated experience of softness, smoothness, shine, detangling, anti-frizz and anti-static that people can really tangibly see. That’s the magic.”

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