Tech

Ruka Hair, A Biotech Beauty Brand Pioneering Lab-Grown Hair Extensions, Raises $4.5M In Funding – AfroTech

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Ruka Hair has raised new funding to scale its mission of ensuring hair and beauty solutions work for the textured-hair community.

Ruka Hair

Ruka Hair Co-Founder and CEO Tendai Moyo was 17 when she went to a corner shop in Swindon, England, on the hunt for hair extensions, she explained in an interview with Translate Culture. She recalled seeing inexpensive hair extensions and later realizing the industry had changed little over the years.

“I was a strategy consultant prior to this, and the industry hasn’t changed very much. It’s still really hard to find high-quality hair extensions that work for Black women. Success for us is about creating a brand that brings Black women joy,” Moyo said in the video. “For too long in this space, getting your hair done is painful. When you’re a kid, it comes with a lot of tears. It’s expensive, you’re spending money on products that don’t work, and oftentimes, you don’t really know what you’re doing because you haven’t had that expert access. So success is about bringing joy, it’s about bringing education and learning in a fun way, and it’s about treating Black women with the high value and respect that they deserve.”

Ruka Hair

Moyo wrote on LinkedIn that her dream is to create brands that target underserved consumers who look like her. Hair, which she describes as a vital part of her identity, is her starting point. In 2020, alongside Ugo Agbai (co-founder and chief strategy officer), she launched Ruka Hair, headquartered in London. It is a biotech beauty brand that carries premium, natural, ethical, and trichologist-developed human hair, according to its website. Additionally, it carries Synths 2, a patent-pending collagen-based lab-grown fiber that was “built on the feedback that made Synths 1 a community favourite,” and “without the environmental or ethical costs,” its website notes. The fiber is biodegradable, hypoallergenic, and looks and acts like real hair, and was designed for curls, coils, and kinks, according to a press release shared with AFROTECH™.

“Our community has always been at the centre of everything we do,” Moyo explained in the press release. “People shouldn’t have to choose between what looks good, what feels safe, and what aligns with their values. We’re building something that finally delivers on all three.”

Funding Round

Ruka Hair can be purchased on the company website and is also available at Selfridges in the United Kingdom and other retailers. The company is projected to achieve 101% year-over-year revenue growth by April 2027, according to information shared with AFROTECH™. It credits its scale to its 2026 expansion into the U.S., which will be supported by a $4.5 million funding round co-led by Freedom Trail Capital and Henkel Ventures, bringing its total funding to $10 million, per the press release. Big Issue Invest and Backed VC, as well as angel investors such as Olympic medalist and global track and field champion Dina Asher-Smith, supply chain expert Knut Alicke, retail and mergers and acquisitions expert Sophia Dennis, and culture and branding expert Didier Morais also participated in the round.

“Our venture journey started in 2020, knowing that to reimagine the supply chain, toxicology framework and brand-trust in hair extensions we would need capital and backing from across biotech, personal care, and impact,” Agbai explained in a LinkedIn post. “Whilst the venture market pulled away from CPG, hardware and health, we pressed into our thesis, and the industry took notice.”

Samyr Laine, co-founder and managing partner of Freedom Trail Capital, said in the press release:

“Ruka Hair exemplifies what we look for: founders solving a real problem with genuine commitment, building through community rather than hype. Tendai and Ugo built this brand during one of the most challenging periods for consumer businesses, scaled through an authentic community and are now pioneering biotech innovation that could reshape an entire category. At Freedom Trail, we back founders building enduring brands – not chasing viral moments. Ruka is on track to become a category-defining brand and a future household name for textured hair care products.”

Ruka Hair will now be equipped to build its logistics, retail readiness, and community infrastructure with support from Freedom Trail Capital’s expertise, which has benefited brands such as Issa Rae’s Sienna Naturals and Kevin Hart’s VitaHustle, Moyo mentioned in a LinkedIn post. She also shared that the round will build “real trust in a category that has historically lacked transparency,” with the assistance of Henkel’s technical and scientific expertise, which has supported brands like Schwarzkopf and got2b.