Maesa Group

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

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

• Beauty brand incubation
• Private label cosmetics
• Mass market fragrance
• Hair care products
• Beauty manufacturing

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core 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

Named customers8 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered major and minor.

• Ulta BeautymajorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 16 June 2026Being 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 IntelligenceminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 May 2026Maesa 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 LimitedmajorOthers · 30 April 2026Anomaly 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.majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 11 September 2025Maesa 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)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 3 February 2025Maesa 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 UniversityminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerMaesa 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 AmericaminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPartnership offering Maesa Magic Incubator winners fully paid trip to Cosmoprof North America Miami including panel discussion, networking, and Entrepreneur Academy access.
• GlamsquadminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorKristin 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

Broad 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

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/maesa
• Instagraminstagram.com/fineryfragrance/ https://www.instagram.com/kristinesshair/ https://www.instagram.com/beingfrenshe
• Facebookfacebook.com/maesa.engineeringbeauty

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Subsidiaries11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors2 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Maesa Group