National Post (National Edition)
TEMPORARY TATTOOS DRAW INVESTORS
TORONTO STARTUP RAISES US$10 MILLION
TORONTO• As millennials drive a changing attitude toward tattoos, venture capitalists are making a US$10 million bet that Torontobased startup Inkbox can upend the sector by selling body art without the lifelong commitment.
Inkbox’s tattoos can be applied at home in about 15 minutes, and they last for eight to 18 days before fading away.
That has made them popular with people who want to test out a tattoo idea before committing to something permanent, or as temporary affectations for members of the Instagram generation who want to switch up their style.
CEO and co-founder Tyler Handley said that the company is shipping around 60,000 of the tattoos per month, and the infusion of Series A venture capital will give the company room to expand.
“This fundraising round to is really to scale up our marketplace, to bring more artists on board and allow more artists to have people around the world wear art they designed on their skin,” he said.
“We’re also working on new versions that are easier to apply.”
The Inkbox marketplace allows artists to submit tattoo designs, and then receive a cut of the proceeds when customers purchase the tattoos. Right now the marketplace is curated with only pre-approved, professional artists contributing, but eventually Handley said they want to expand it so anybody can submit designs.
“We have a really unique opportunity to actually involve our customers in the process by allowing them to become artists as well,” he said. “I mean, how cool is that, to be involved in a company you love? And to actually make income from it.”
The tattoo business is at an exciting inflection point, said Anarghya Vardhana, a principal at Maveron, the California-based venture capital firm that led Inkbox’s Series A funding round, with Toronto-based Golden Ventures also participating.
Vardhana said that the tattoo industry is worth an estimated US$3 billion in the U.S. alone, and is only expected to grow as tattoos become more socially acceptable among younger people.
But the market is tricky because getting a tattoo is painful and the permanent nature of the product scares off a lot of customers.
Handley said he doesn’t see Inkbox as a “disruptor” like other tech companies because, in an industry made up mainly of individual studios, there’s no incumbent to disrupt.
“We don’t actually like to use the term ‘disruption’ as hot as that is in the tech scene,” he said. “We think we’re expanding the market. The way we view it, the art is what really matters here, and having people feel confident with tattoo decisions is the most important aspect.”
Disruption or not, Vardhana says Inkbox’s solutions make it fertile ground for investors.
“It’s a high-consumable, highrepeat, high-frequency product,” she said. “We have every reason to believe that over time, if this company is able to execute, they can go from obscurity to ubiquity.”
Eventually, they have the potential to become a fashion statement akin to fake nails or dyed hair, she said.
“I was just in the south of France for a friend’s wedding, and I said, you know, I’m going to be wearing a swimsuit a lot,” she said. “I can put an Inkbox tattoo on my chest or something where it would add a very different look to the bathing suit.”
One of the trends driving the tattoo attitude shift, and fuelling Inkbox’s growth is Instagram. With the rise of the social media platform that emphasizes striking visuals, tattoo artists have found a new avenue to promote their work, and develop the art beyond the old school Ed Hardy styles.
Toronto tattoo artist Curt Montgomery has designs on the Inkbox marketplace, and he said aside from providing a new revenue source, Inkbox has also been a way for him to connect with new clients. He said a few people have come to him for permanent tattoos after getting an Inkbox design first.
Montgomery said it’s also good for him because he has Instagram followers under 18 years of age that he won’t tattoo, but this gives them a way to wear his art without getting inked permanently.
Not everyone in the industry is so positive about it, though.
“The traditional tattoo artist response to Inkbox has been, I’d say, a mixed bag. We get people who, you know, love us and hate us,” Handley said.
“It’s a very conservative industry that’s very strongly opposed to change ... so they see this as a threat.”
On the other hand, Handley said they have one constituency that’s enthusiastically on board.
“Moms and dads love us,” he said. “Absolutely love us.”