• TL;DR ODDITY, the consumer tech company behind viral makeup brand IL MAKIAGE, is using technology developed by former members of a top secret division in the Israel Defense Forces.

• So what? Soon, you’ll be able to get a bespoke skin care routine all with a selfie.

ODDITY, the New York based parent of viral makeup brand IL MAKIAGE, is challenging the status quo in the beauty and wellness industry.

Launched in 2018 by Oran Holtzman, Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer, and his sister, Shiran Holtzman Erel, Co-founder & Chief Product Officer, ODDITY’s mission is to disrupt the legacy beauty industry and replace in-store shopping with custom AI backed digital products and biotechnology.

Between IL MAKIAGE and wellness brand SpoiledChild, ODDITY owns two of the fastest growing businesses in the United States, with increasing presence in Australia and the United Kingdom. Their digital platform caters to more than 40 million users, 4 million active customers and boasts 1 billion data points. 

With an initial public offering last month that now values the company at $US2 billion, ODDITY is set to double down on an already impressive track record. 

Here’s how they’re doing it.

The ODD one out: a tech first beauty and wellness brand

In 2013 Oran Holtzman and sister Shiran Holtzman Erel bought liquidated Israeli cosmetics brand IL MAKIAGE. Neither had a background in beauty so they established ODDITY as a new, tech-first beauty business.

To be tech-first in beauty means placing just as much emphasis on digital products like software applications that enable a physical product like a blush, foundation or concealer, to enter a customer’s hands.

“It sounds simple and obvious, but in practice it is incredibly difficult…” said Oran Holtzman in ODDITY’s prospectus “it requires marrying two different worlds of tech and physical products. Tech by itself isn’t enough in our category. It’s not enough to build smart machine learning models, they need to be trained to match physical products.”

So what products are in ODDITY’s cosmetics kit?

ODDITY’s palette is made up of applications like PowerMatch and SpoiledBrain, and Kenzza: an on-demand content marketplace for beauty enthusiasts. These AI backed digital products enable ODDITY’s customers to be part of a global community and buy ODDITY’s physical products like lipstick, serums and hair treatments with greater confidence.

PowerMatch and SpoiledBrain use machine learning to find tailored beauty products for customers’ makeup, skincare and wellness needs from makeup and wellness brands IL MAKIAGE and SpoiledChild. The two quizzes guide customers through a series of questions and accurately match customers to products in as little as 90 seconds. They have all but removed the need for physical product try-outs at the beauty counter, and have gone viral on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram with influencers and creators.

Kenzza is a collection of on-demand beauty content made by ODDITY’s global network of creators. Thousands of streaming videos provide educational content for beauty and wellness enthusiasts. The content is filmed all over the world in the creators’ local languages, giving Kenzza the ability to offer their community an authentic, inclusive experience.

ODDITY’s Israel Defense Forces connection: Voyage81

In 2019, ODDITY made a $US40 million acquisition of Voyage81, a tech company founded by ex-Israel Defense Forces serviceman, Niv Price, and scientist Dr. Boaz Arad. Drawing inspiration from the Israel Defense Forces' special technology Unit 81, the pair’s breakthrough patented software transforms smartphones into “hyperspectral” cameras. 

Until Voyage81’s disruptive innovation, hyperspectral cameras cost  $USD20,000 or more. According to ODDITY, these devices can detect 31 wavelengths that are invisible to the human eye, meaning they can analyse skin and hair at microscopic levels, detect facial blood flows, monitor your heart-rate, and create detailed melanin and hemoglobin maps all by taking a selfie. ODDITY can then use these maps to create tailored beauty care regimes that their physical products like hair masks, moisturisers and serums can fulfill.

“We believe this imaging technology will allow us to rapidly expand our product capabilities with a lower amount of data needed for our machine learning models, such as more personalised products and brands in categories that traditionally require in-person diagnostics,” says ODDITY’s prospectus.

Oh yeah, and they’re using AI to discover new molecules…

AI-based molecule discovery is at the forefront of ODDITY's transformative product development, thanks to lowkey and very casual enabling technologies like” synthetic biology, genomic sequencing and robotics” says their prospectus.

Earlier this year ODDITY acquired biotechnology business Revela, the innovative lab behind the discovery of molecules like ProCelinyl that treats hair loss, and Fibroquin which targets ageing skin concerns. ODDITY’s acquisition enabled them to establish ODDITY LABS, a biotechnology lab in Boston with the aim of “bringing pharma’s AI based molecule discovery to beauty and wellness.”

By harnessing the potential of AI and machine learning algorithms, ODDITY LABS can rapidly sift through vast amounts of data, predicting molecular properties, and pinpointing potentially game-changing compounds. This groundbreaking approach expedites the discovery process, giving ODDITY the ability to pioneer high-performance beauty and wellness products tailored to their customers’ personal needs.

The importance of being ODD

ODDITY’s outsider mindset may just be the key ingredient that’s crucial to their success. Their innovative mix of digital technology, more than 40% of their headcount is in tech, and physical products has given them the competitive edge to achieve scale, growth, and profitability in a saturated market. 

This winning combination of cutting edge digital and physical products has enabled IL MAKIAGE’s revenue to consistently double year-on-year between 2018 - 2022 and SpoiledChild to grow even faster. And, with last month’s IPO beating all expectations to raise $USD424 million, what used to be ODD in beauty might just be the new normal.