Associate Partner Sarah Broyd Featured in Business Insider

Clarkston Consulting Associate Partner Sarah Broyd was recently featured in a Business Insider article. An excerpt of the article and link to the full piece are included below. 

July 15, 2021 | Durham, NC

11 Technology Companies that Experts Say Are Transforming the $380 Billion Beauty Industry

The beauty industry is undergoing a period of transformation, led by the emergence of virtual try-on and other technologies that startups are developing with the aim of taking the online-beauty experience to new levels.

While virtual makeup try-on had already been on the rise in recent years, it became more important during the pandemic, as the temporary closure of stores rendered beauty samples obsolete.

Now other augmented-reality and artificial-intelligence tools are also proving their staying power, including startups offering services that vary from robotic manicures to lab-grown collagen and palm oil regularly used as ingredients in beauty products.

“In the past year, brick-and-mortar took a massive hit due to the pandemic and, in turn, e-commerce boomed,” Sarah Broyd, an associate partner and leader of the beauty and personal-care practice at Clarkston Consulting, told Insider. “Beauty brands were faced with the challenge of enhancing their online presence and consumer experience in innovative ways.”

According to Kenya Watson, a beauty-intelligence analyst at CB Insights, consumers can expect high-tech beauty tools to have longevity well beyond the pandemic, as they transition from a “nice to have” feature to an essential part both the e-commerce and in-store experience.

We took a look at 11 of the fastest-growing and most innovative beauty tech companies — a sector within the overall $380 billion beauty industry. Startups listed are based on both industry analysts and our internal research. Estimated total funding for each startup is based on reports from PitchBook unless otherwise specified.

Read the full article on Business Insider here.