inkbox is a tattoo ecosystem that makes realistic semi-permanent tattoos customers apply at home without needles. Customers can choose from thousands of designs created by an active artist community or create their own, and the company operates an artist marketplace. Founded by brothers Tyler and Braden Handley in February 2015 and based in Toronto, inkbox has shipped over 500,000 tattoos to customers in more than 150 countries. The company has released collections with brands and influencers including Vans Warped Tour, Anna Brisbin, SickKids Foundation, and Debby Ryan. Plans include expanding its artist marketplace, developing new tattoo technologies, strengthening its brand and scaling operations through strategic hires. Alongside the financing, inkbox added advisors Jill Braff and Divya Gugnani. To date the company has raised $16M, including prior seed rounds. Toronto-based founders Tyler and Braden Handley launched Inkbox after a Kickstarter that raised nearly $300,000 and refined their product to a 10-minute application. The company sells short-term organic temporary tattoos and describes itself as a biotech on the back end with a consumer fashion front end. Inkbox completed a general consumer launch and hired chemist Chris Caputo, a former Harvard postdoc, as its first main hire. The team says it manufactured the underlying technology from scratch and spent about six months scaling it to consumer production. The company is developing a longer-lasting version of the technology that would last 30 days and has additional products planned. Financially, Inkbox recently closed a $1 million seed round from angels and an early-stage VC as it prepares for retail sales.

Total raised

$14M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Debt Financing

Latest activity

Jul 2018