Gurugram-headquartered artificial intelligence (AI) based start-up Hair Originals raised $1.25 million in an investment round led by Anicut Capital, Kesh Kala Family Office, JITO Angel Network, Lets Venture, Dexter Angels, Pankaj Chaddah, ex-co-founder of Zomato and Ahana Gautam, founder of Open Secret. 

The company will utilise these funds to expand its services to 25 cities across India. Additionally, it wants to scale up its business operation by 4x and aims to achieve Rs 100 crore ARR (annualised run rate) of Rs 100 crore by 2025. 

The luxury hair extensions and wig company appeared in the first season of the reality show Shark Tank India. It bagged Rs 60 lakh investment in exchange for its four per cent equity from Ashneer Grover, former managing director (MD) of BharatPe, Peyush Bansal, chief executive officer (CEO) of Lenskart and Anupam Mittal, founder of the People Group. It also received Rs 30 crore in a seed funding round earlier this year. 

Talking about the latest development, Jitendra Sharma, the CEO of Hair Originals, said, "We are excited to have raised such encouraging funding at this juncture of our journey. We have been registering around four times growth YoY (year-on-year) in the last three years with profitability and aim to use the funds to utilise AR/VR and AI capabilities and provide an immersive experience to all the customers.”

“The popularity of their hair extensions has now leaped all bounds. With the continuous support from our investors, we anticipate achieving 100 crore ARR by the end of 2024, with a sizable percentage coming from the US D2C markets too," he added. 

Addressing their decision to invest in the company, Pooja Mehta, chief investment officer (CIO) of JITO Angel Network, said, "We are proud to add this unique and ethical hair solutions provider to our portfolio. We expect Hair Originals to not just tap the national market but cater to the growing demand for hair extensions globally. We are especially drawn to the company's ethical procurement philosophy and hope for a long and fruitful association."