Ruka Hair has secured US$4.5m funding to accelerate its US expansion plans and scale its lab-grown hair extension innovation, Synths.
The biotech beauty brand, which was co-founded by Tendai Moyo and Ugo Agbai in 2020, specialises in lab-grown hair alternatives, delivering extensions that are said not to compromise on quality, safety or ethics.
This latest investment round, co-led by Freedom Trail Capital and Henkel Ventures, will enable Ruka Hair to continue scaling Synths 2 (as seen on the model above), its collagen protein fibre braiding hair and the wider fibre platform behind it.
Synths 2 is a patent-pending, lab-grown fibre made from collagen that looks, feels and performs like real hair, which is also biodegradable, hypoallergenic, and made without any plastic or carcinogens.
It is designed to work across curls, coils and kinks.
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“We have filed a patent for shape memory fibre technology, and now the work is about applying it properly: research and development, performance testing, toxicology, manufacturing and customer education,” Moyo told Cosmetics Business.
“Partnering with Henkel is also important here, because it gives us deeper technical and safety expertise as we build in a category that needs clearer standards.
“Ruka has spent the past 18 months building the proof points needed for this next stage: strengthening our
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