London-based NAAMA Studios on a mission to raise £11m funding

by Startacus Admin

With the demand for tattoo removal now greater than ever, specialist NAAMA Studios makes a bid for a further £11m in funding.

Leading tattoo removal brand NAAMA Studios is expanding its services to meet an explosion in demand for safe, faster and less painful tattoo removal from millions of consumers globally. 

The London-based firm is lining up a capital injection from a range of blue-chip backers to expand beyond the UK to hit their £30m funding target.

Early investors in the company, chaired by serial entrepreneur and angel investor Errol Damelin,  include Alex Chesterman, the founder of the car retailing platform Cazoo, investment banker Ken Moelis and Israeli tech investor Gigi Levy.

With the brand having already raised an impressive £19m, NAAMA have been operating in stealth mode, under the radar of investors, since 2019.

In the wake of their recent ‘Yeezy come, Yeezy go’ campaign, which went viral last November, they are now focusing on global expansion with plans to open a US studio later this year.

Having already raised an impressive £19m, NAAMA has been operating in stealth mode, under the radar of investors,  since 2019, and is now in advanced talks with Future Positive Capital, a double bottom line social impact fund based in Paris, to lead the latest funding round.

NAAMA has already gained FDA approval for its fully-fledged medical device system, LightSenseTM Laser System. This was granted at the close of 2021, just one year after the opening of their Great Portland Street studio.

Using ground-breaking technology developed at Princeton University, their proprietary IP has undergone a decade of human and clinical trials. The laser used operates at a rate that is 100 times faster than industry competitors, pulsing at 1000 times a second - making NAAMA the safest and most effective option for removing dark ink on darker skin tones.?

With new research suggesting that more than one in four tattooed millennials regretted having at least one piece of their body-art, NAAMA aims to capitalise on the explosion in demand for tattoo removal.

Before NAAMA entered the market, burns, blistering and scarring were considered the norm for tattoo removal, with clinical studies on competitor devices regularly reporting blistering and scabbing in more than 80% of cases. NAAMA has completely changed the game; over 13,000 treatments and not a single scar. 

Because of its unprecedented safety profile, and low-energy, highly-targeted lasers, NAAMA clients can have treatments every 2-3 weeks, 4x faster than competitors meaning clients can remove their tattoos in months, not years.

NAAMA already has a strong roster of celebrity clients including Daisy Lowe, Lucy Watson, Millie Mackintosh, Lily Cole, Beth England and Munroe Bergdorf. They can offer their clients a premium, luxury experience, having invested heavily in its inaugural studio in Great Portland Street, London.

The business, which counts City financier Jeremy Coller and Taavet Hinrikus, co-founder of currency exchange group Wise, as shareholders, was established during a period when tattooing has become a mainstream form of cultural expression, particularly amongst younger consumers. 47% of US millennials are inked and an ever-increasing 472 million people are tattooed across the globe; yet 133 million (28%) of those already want to clear at least one of their tattoos.

The brand’s recent social impact campaign, removing Kanye West related tattoos for free, received global coverage and saw the brand at the forefront of a cultural conversation on tattoos and personal identity.

NAAMA has now drawn up plans to open its maiden studio in New York City later this year.

 

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• #investment
• #expansion

Published on: 14th March 2023