Maesa Group
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1997
- HeadquartersNew York, United States
- Headcount251–500
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
Maesa Group firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Maesa Group
- Legal name
- Maesa LLC
- Website
- https://maesa.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1997
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 251–500 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Maesa Group industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Beauty Brand Incubation
- NAICS
- Cosmetics, Beauty Supplies, and Perfume Retailers (45612), Health and Personal Care Retailers (456)
- SIC
- Soap, Detergents, Cleang Preparations, Perfumes, Cosmetics (2840), Perfumes, Cosmetics & Other Toilet Preparations (2844)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Beauty & Personal Care Online Retailers (CRAFADAC)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Beauty & Personal Care Omnichannel (CRAFAEAB), Aerosol Air Fresheners & Sprays (CRAJAEAA)
Keywords
Where Maesa Group is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- New York
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices4 records
Markets served
Maesa Group business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Hardware or Manufacturing
- Cost components
- Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Brand Incubation and Licensing: Maesa creates, incubates, and grows beauty brands, then manages them through retail partnerships and distribution deals. Revenue generated through product sales, licensing arrangements, and brand equity appreciation.
- Managed Brands / Private Label: Maesa Managed Brands provides comprehensive beauty brand development services to retailers and other beauty brands, including creation, development, supply chain, and marketing capabilities for proprietary beauty categories.
- Brand Divestitures: Maesa sells established brands to strategic acquirers, as demonstrated by the sale of Anomaly to Reliance Retail, generating transaction value while retaining certain ongoing arrangements.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Mass-market accessible pricing across all brands |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Premium body care with clinical actives at mass prices |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Skincare targeting Gen Z with guilt-free pricing |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels6 records
Marketing channels5 records
Maesa Group product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Maesa is a next-generation beauty incubator that designs, formulates, manufactures, and markets a portfolio of beauty and personal care brands including haircare, fragrance, skincare, body care, intimate care, and home fragrance products. The company creates brands with celebrity and influencer co-founders and distributes them through exclusive retail partnerships with Target, Walmart, Ulta Beauty, Dollar General, and Amazon, while also offering private-label development services to retailers.
Product overview
Maesa is a next-generation beauty incubator that creates, develops, and scales multiple beauty and personal care brands. The company operates a portfolio of sub-brands including Kristin Ess Hair (haircare), Hairitage by Mindy (inclusive haircare), Being Frenshe (wellness/fragrance), Fine'ry (mass fragrance), MIX:BAR (layerable fragrance), Niches & Nooks (intimate care), Koze Place (home fragrance), ITK (Gen-Z skincare), Believe Beauty (skincare at Dollar General), and Root to End (affordable haircare at Dollar General). Maesa also offers managed brands services for private label development for retailers and beauty brands, providing end-to-end capabilities from brand concepting through manufacturing and distribution.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Kristin Ess: Hair care brand founded by celebrity hairstylist Kristin Ess, featuring cleansers, conditioners, stylers, glosses, and styling tools.
- Hairitage by Mindy
- Being Frenshe
- Fine'ry
- MIX:BAR
- Niches & Nooks
- Koze Place
- ITK
- Believe Beauty
- Root to End
- Managed Brands
- Party of You
- Ontu
- Scents Unearth'd
- (STRING) THEORY
Products and services
- Kristin Ess Hair Mass haircare brand founded by celebrity hairstylist Kristin Ess, offering cleansers, conditioners, dry and wet stylers, glosses, styling tools, and accessories featuring Zip-Up Technology for affordable luxury hair care.
- Hairitage by Mindy Inclusive haircare brand founded by Mindy McKnight, offering clean, high-performing formulas for diverse hair types and textures at accessible prices.
- Being Frenshe Wellness collection of fragrance and body care essentials rooted in emotional well-being, founded by actress Ashley Tisdale French in partnership with Maesa.
- Fine'ry Mass-market fragrance brand inspired by fine perfumery, democratizing luxury scents for Gen Z and younger consumers through TikTok and social media presence.
- MIX:BAR Layerable fragrance experience allowing users to mix and match pure fragrances for personalized scent combinations.
- Niches & Nooks Intimate care brand featuring pH-balanced essentials with microbiome-friendly scents in innovative formats for intimate wellness.
- Koze Place Home fragrance brand infused with RoomBloom scent technology for enhanced fragrance release, distributed through Dollar General.
- ITK Skincare brand founded by Gen-Z influencer twins Brooklyn and Bailey McKnight, simplifying skincare for tweens and Gen Z consumers.
- Believe Beauty Premium quality, solution-driven skincare brand infused with botanical and fruit extracts, available exclusively at Dollar General.
- Root to End Honestly priced, quality haircare brand offering thoughtfully formulated products at affordable prices, distributed through Dollar General.
- Maesa Managed Brands Private label and brand development services for retailers and beauty brands, providing brand incubation, product development, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution capabilities.
- Party of You Skincare brand positioned as a counter to wellness culture, targeting Gen Z consumers with products designed for real-life moments.
- Ontu Premium body care line featuring facial-level actives like niacinamide, urea, and glycolic acid at mass retail price points, exclusive to Target.
- Scents Unearth'd Fragrance brand featuring culturally inspired perfumes with themes based on global locations, launched exclusively at Target.
- (STRING) THEORY Fragrance Fragrance brand developed by the Maesa incubator launching limited-edition collections exclusively on Amazon.
- Kristin Ess+ Advanced haircare collection featuring bond-building biomimetic peptide technology for repair and color protection, available exclusively at Target with products ranging from $16.99 to $18.99.
Quantifiable outcome
- EcoVadis Silver Medal ranking in top 15% of assessed companies
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Maesa Group
Customer profileNamed customers8 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Maesa Group technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature5 records
Maesa Group partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eight partnerships are on record, tiered major and minor.
- Ulta BeautymajorBeing Frenshe wellness brand expands to Ulta Beauty online June 16 and in stores June 22. First major retail partnership for the brand, significantly expanding distribution beyond existing Target relationship.
- Daash IntelligenceminorMaesa executive Oshiya Savur joined Daash Intelligence advisory board composed of beauty industry executives and founders to guide strategic growth and product development for AI-driven competitive intelligence platform. Provides market intelligence and industry perspective.
- Reliance Retail Ventures LimitedmajorAnomaly haircare brand founded with Priyanka Chopra Jonas sold to Reliance Retail including trademarks, brand assets, and digital properties. Priyanka Chopra Jonas remains as creative director. Strategic expansion for Anomaly in India while maintaining international presence through Reliance's TIRA beauty retail platform.
- Gap Inc.majorMaesa partnered with Gap to develop beauty assortment for approximately 150 Old Navy stores and Gap stores, including body care items under $25 and fragrances. Former Estée Lauder executive John Demsey involved as consultant. Strategic move into fashion retailer beauty category.
- Knowlton Development Corporation (kdc/one)minorMaesa sold its European and Middle Eastern operations (Maesa EMEA) to kdc/one, a global leader in custom formulation, packaging design and manufacturing for beauty brands. Strategic transaction allowing Maesa to focus on core US business.
- Harvard UniversityminorMaesa Magic Incubator provides in-person leadership workshop at Harvard Faculty Club as part of Emerson University's 'Future of Commerce and Work' program, joining 60 retail and consumer brand executives.
- Cosmoprof North AmericaminorPartnership offering Maesa Magic Incubator winners fully paid trip to Cosmoprof North America Miami including panel discussion, networking, and Entrepreneur Academy access.
- GlamsquadminorKristin Ess Hair partnered with Glamsquad as preferred hair partner, the leading on-demand beauty service bringing salon experience directly to consumers.
Scale indicators8 records
Recent moves8 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Maesa Group competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- E.l.f. Beauty: E.l.f. Beauty is a public mass beauty company that, like Maesa, focuses on accessible prestige-quality products. It also acquires and scales smaller brands (e.g., Naturium, Rhode), and recently hired Maesa's former Chief Brand Officer, making it a direct competitor for talent, retail relationships, and Gen Z consumer mindshare.
- Coty Inc. Coty is a global beauty conglomerate that owns CoverGirl, Max Factor, and many celebrity fragrance brands. It serves as a broad incumbent that Maesa could potentially partner with for distribution or that could acquire mature Maesa brands as the Anomaly-Reliance precedent demonstrates.
Direct peers
- The Honest Company: The Honest Company is a digitally-native, clean-ingredient beauty and personal care company selling across mass retail. Like Maesa, it emphasizes accessible pricing for premium-positioned products, multi-channel distribution (Target, Amazon), and brand-led storytelling, making it a close comparable in go-to-market.
- Glossier: Glossier is a digitally-native beauty brand that built a multi-category portfolio and expanded into physical retail (Sephora). Like Maesa, it targets Gen Z and millennial consumers, builds brand through social media, and creates products at the prestige-mass intersection.
- ColourPop Cosmetics: ColourPop is a digitally-native, mass-prestige beauty brand known for rapid product launches, TikTok virality, and affordable price points. It mirrors Maesa's Fine'ry model of bringing luxury-inspired product categories to mass pricing.
- Huda Beauty: Huda Beauty is a founder-led, influencer-anchored beauty brand that scaled from a single celebrity to a multi-category global portfolio. Like Maesa, it leverages founder authenticity, social media, and rapid product expansion.
- Rare Beauty: Rare Beauty is a celebrity-founded (Selena Gomez) beauty brand sold at Sephora and mass-adjacent retailers. It mirrors Maesa's celebrity co-founder model and emotional brand positioning, particularly in skincare and complexion.
- Beautycounter: Beautycounter is a clean beauty brand that emphasizes ingredient transparency and accessible premium positioning. Like Maesa, it uses influencer and ambassador models and sells through both direct and retail channels (Target, Sephora).
Emerging players
- Tatcha: Tatcha is a prestige-meets-mass skincare brand, now owned by Unilever. It shares Maesa's positioning of bringing premium-quality ingredients to mainstream consumers and has been successfully scaled across Sephora and department store channels.
- Drunk Elephant: Drunk Elephant is a clinical-actives skincare brand (acquired by Shiseido) that built a strong following through ingredient-led positioning at premium prices. It parallels Maesa's Ontu body care line in bringing clinical-grade actives to broader price points.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks7 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Maesa Group social profiles
Digital presenceMaesa Group financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Maesa Group leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles12 records
Maesa Group subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries11 records
Maesa Group funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds2 records
Investors2 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Maesa Group M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A1 record
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Maesa Group
What does Maesa Group do?
Maesa is a next-generation beauty incubator that designs, formulates, manufactures, and markets a portfolio of beauty and personal care brands including haircare, fragrance, skincare, body care, intimate care, and home fragrance products. The company creates brands with celebrity and influencer co-founders and distributes them through exclusive retail partnerships with Target, Walmart, Ulta Beauty, Dollar General, and Amazon, while also offering private-label development services to retailers.
Is Maesa Group a public or private company?
Maesa Group is a private company. It is classified as private equity controlled and is currently operating.
When was Maesa Group founded?
Maesa Group was founded in 1997. It employs 251 to 500 people.
Where is Maesa Group based?
Maesa Group is headquartered in New York, United States, in the North America region.
How does Maesa Group make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Brand Incubation and Licensing is the primary driver. The others are managed Brands / Private Label and brand Divestitures.
Who are Maesa Group's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are E.l.f. Beauty and Coty Inc.. Direct peers are The Honest Company, Glossier, ColourPop Cosmetics, Huda Beauty, Rare Beauty and Beautycounter. Emerging players are Tatcha and Drunk Elephant.
Does Maesa Group have an API?
No public API is recorded for Maesa Group.
What industry is Maesa Group in?
Maesa Group's product category is Beauty Brand Incubation. Its primary akta.pro industry code is CRAFADAC, Beauty & Personal Care Online Retailers, with a secondary code of CRAFAEAB, Beauty & Personal Care Omnichannel. Its NAICS code is 45612 and its SIC code is 2840.