Breakout is held in partnership with Kwanlen University of Technology.
The beauty market is booming and the technology scene is constantly innovating. However, the beauty tech scene is almost non-existent. For Kaylee Astle, co-founder and CEO of her Vancouver-based Blanka, that gap was an opportunity.
After a career in consulting and a quick attempt to launch her own sunscreen product line, she realized she needed an infrastructure to support her independent beauty business.
“Independent brands make up more than 25 percent of the beauty industry, but historically they haven’t been supported by anything,” she says. “We wanted to build technology that would solve many of the problems I experienced.”
Astle launched Blanka in 2021 to provide a streamlined way to brand different products with easy integration into various e-commerce platforms such as Shopify. Blanka handles all the logistics of production, packaging, and shipping, so any aspiring entrepreneur, whether you’re an influencer, an established brand looking to get into makeup, or an entirely new venture starting from scratch, will be able to focus on the business side of launching their own line.
All products offered through Blanka are not tested on animals. All are vegan except for some lip balms that contain beeswax. All are approved for sale throughout the United States and Canada. His new service, Blanka Labs, also offers custom formulations for customers who want to choose every step of the way in ingredients.
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“Educate users about all the materials available and let them make their own decisions,” Astle says.
Although it’s only been around for less than three years, Blanka is already making waves in British Columbia’s business scene.Last year was a great year as the company won the championship.
We won BC Tech’s Startup award at the Technology Impact Awards, placed third in Innovate BC’s New Ventures BC competition, and raised $2 million in seed funding.
Looking to the future, Astle says 2024 will be all about growth.
“I want to triple it this year,” she says casually.
But even as Blanca grows, she wants to keep it where it started.
“It’s really important to continue building in Vancouver, building the ecosystem here and hiring here,” Astle asserts. “I think it’s a really great, great city to start a company in, and it’s a growing city from a technology and beauty professional perspective.”