Key Takeaways:
Alex Shashou, co-founder and co-CEO of 10Beauty, celebrated a milestone in November when the startup debuted its first robotic manicure machines in two Ulta Beauty stores in Massachusetts.
It took six years and around $52 million in investor support for 10Beauty to get to this stage, a reflection of the old technology industry adage “hardware is hard.” Shashou told BeautyMatter that 10Beauty built every piece of its machine from scratch, around 500 parts in total, developed by a team of 50 engineers. 10Beauty internally developed a seven-camera computer vision system with sub-millimeter precision and a “manicure pod” that uses tools only once per manicure to ensure proper hygiene.
“This was really hard,” said Shashou. “Hardware is really difficult, and I didn’t really appreciate that coming from software.”
But, Shashou says the company has signed commitments for about 1,000 locations at hair salons and beauty retailers, and the priority in the coming months is to roll out 10 machines per month. At Ulta Beauty, 10Beauty’s robot can produce a traditional manicure—removing any existing nail polish, filing the nails, buffing the cuticles, then painting and drying them—for $30 to $35, with an average service time of approximately 30 to 45 minutes.
10Beauty most recently raised $38 million in 2024, and named early-stage venture capital firm Shine Capital, model Karlie Kloss, and fashion designer and singer Victoria Beckham as investors. Other beauty robotic startups to recently raise funds include robotics-powered lash extension service LUUM, which closed a Series A in late 2024, and the $6.5 million Series A that flowed into robotic nail polish maker Blank Beauty in May.
Mo Koyfman, founder and investor at Shine Capital, said there has been little interaction between technology investors and those focused on consumer and retail startups. “We're able to make the connections between beauty and technology, between what's changing from consumer expectations, and how fields like robotics are unlocking new opportunities,” he told BeautyMatter.
Robotics could help retailers and beauty salons address any labor shortages they may face. “The insight from 10Beauty is that we are good enough today with computer vision, AI, and robotics to deliver a machine and a form factor that can perform a manicure as well as a human and can solve a lot of the labor issues in the market,” said Koyfman.
Beauty robotics startups and their backers are placing a bet that retailers and their customers will also grow increasingly more comfortable interacting with robots for their beauty needs. By 2030, 90% of humans are expected to interact with AI-powered smart robots on a daily basis, up from less than 10% today, according to research firm Gartner. Blank Beauty has deployed three machines in Walmart stores. LUUM currently has three machines in Nordstrom stores in California and New York and is tentatively planning to trial two Ulta Beauty locations by spring 2026.
“We’re piloting automated and robotic service technologies, including LUUM and 10Beauty, to understand how these emerging tools can enhance in-store services and better serve our guests,” Paul DeSousa, Ulta Beauty’s Vice President of Brand and Services Education, told BeautyMatter.
These interactions still retain a human in the loop, as a professionally trained, licensed manicurist sits by the machine to help guide guests using 10Beauty’s machine. “We have found that having a manicurist really helps with the customer’s comfort and understanding and training on how to use this,” said Shashou.
Similarly, LUUM claims to employ three to four lash artists for every robot the startup deploys. “We’re taking the super-tedious, back-breaking work out of it, so there’s no more leaning over for hours,” LUUM CEO Jo Lawson told BeautyMatter. Lawson added that clients are also happy because the robots are “faster, cleaner, more comfortable, and there’s no sharp instruments.”
Nathan Harding, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at LUUM, told BeautyMatter that the concept for LUUM was inspired by wire-bonding machines that are used by the semiconductor industry to make connections between the tiny components of electronic devices. “I see robots in a lot of other places that people don’t,” said Harding.
But inspiration isn’t enough. Harding said the robots need to generate consistent revenue at a manufacturing price that justifies the cost to replace some human work. LUUM, he said, is able to “book three times the appointments in a day,” while the lash artists “do the touch-up at the end to make sure everything’s perfect.”
Autumne West, National Beauty Director at Nordstrom, told BeautyMatter that consumer feedback has been positive since the luxury retailer launched lash robots at its flagship store in New York City and two locations in California. “Lashes are a key part of many of our customers’ beauty routines, but it’s also a service that is time-intensive,” said West. “By introducing automated lash services, our goal was to give customers an option that fits seamlessly into their busy lives.”
Some beauty robotics startups have had to pivot along their multiyear journey to make hardware a reality. 10Beauty initially wanted to create manicure robots for the home, aiming for a price of around $600 per machine. But the company realized that it couldn’t develop a robot at that price point and thus it made sense to sell it to retailers, where the device could perform several manicures throughout the day, rather than just a couple of times per month.
Blank Beauty also adjusted its course after more than four years in development. The initial countertop-sized device was the size of a Keurig and blended around 100 different nail polish colors. Blank Beauty hoped to sell it to nail salons, but the device worked with regular nail polish, and salons use gel. “Oh my God, we made the wrong hardware product,” Charles C. Brandon, co-founder and CEO of Blank Beauty, told BeautyMatter.
Walmart was willing to give the startup a chance, but needed some major changes. The robot had to sit in a six-foot-tall space that could bolt onto the aisle. The device had to be autonomous, hold 200 bottles, and run for at least two weeks without any service, Brandon recalled regarding the feedback he received. One of Blank Beauty’s machines is running at a Walmart store near its headquarters in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Two other machines deployed in Tennessee are back with Blank Beauty for upgrades.
“We are continuing to work with them and expanding,” said Brandon.
One of Blank Beauty’s investors is Epson Robots, a large robotics manufacturer that has primarily focused on PC-controlled precision factory automation. Scott Marsic, Group Product Manager at Epson Robots, told BeautyMatter that startups like Blank Beauty are exciting because they can automate a highly repeatable task. He said that the cost to develop robotics has dropped over the past few decades, a reflection of more human expertise in mechatronics, which merges mechanics, robotics, and physics.
Epson and Blank Beauty have partnered not just financially but also in the development of the startup’s technology. Marsic said the relationship also gave Epson’s parent company, the printer and scanner manufacturer Seiko Epson, a new opportunity to dispense color using its high-precision technologies.
“We’re really a color dispensing company,” said Marsic. “We do that with paper, why can’t you do it with something else?”