Perfect Corp. Founder and CEO Alice Chang
Alice Chang has worked as an investment banker, and helped take a company called CyberLink to a successful initial public offering (IPO) and eventual $8.5 billion valuation. Then she founded beauty-tech firm Perfect Corp., which this month closed a $50 million Series C funding round led by Goldman Sachs, to combine her two passions: beauty and innovation.
“I am a beauty lover and innovator at heart,” Chang, Perfect’s founder and CEO, told PYMNTS in a recent interview. “[I] recognized a grand opportunity to integrate both beauty and technology in an impactful, fun and effective way.”
Launched in 2015, Perfect uses advanced imaging and artificial intelligence (AI) to create augmented reality (AR) tools that let consumers virtually “try on” different makeup, hairstyles, hair colors, nail polish and other looks, both in-store and remotely via connected devices.
Consumers can also use the company’s tools to tone up their selfies and videos by adding virtual backgrounds and funny things like cartoon animal whiskers, or even make themselves look taller and slimmer than they really are.
Some 850 million consumers have downloaded free basic versions of Perfect’s YouCam Makeup, YouCam Perfect and other apps, and some are unlocking premium features for a small subscription fee.
Corporate Customers Range from Target to Estée Lauder
However, Perfect has a much larger business, as it licenses its virtual try-on technology to more than 300 major retailers and beauty brands including Target, Sally Beauty, Neutrogena and Estee Lauder.
For instance, Estée Lauder uses the company’s apps for both in-store and online consultations with customers, as well as to help clients pick foundation shades using an AI-powered “smart shade finder.” The company reported 2.5X high conversion rate from virtual try-on solutions.
Perfect also licenses a “YouCam for Web” product to smaller merchants for $399 to $799 a month. Chang said that app is “targeted toward small and medium businesses that are looking for a more turnkey and affordable solution to effectively integrate advanced AR and AI beauty tech across their websites/eCommerce.”
From Banking to Beauty Tech
Chang, who holds an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management, founded Perfect after nearly two decades at CyberLink, an AI facial recognition company that she launched in 1996 and took all the way to a Taiwan Stock Exchange IPO.
CyberLink develops multimedia software and facial recognition technology for video conferencing and other applications. Chang remains on the board of the company, which currently has more than an $8.5 billion market capitalization.
Chang originally worked as a CitiCorp investment consultant, then became Trend Micro’s chief financial officer in the mid-1990s before launching CyberLink.
“I jumped into a career in the IT industry when I recognized the power and opportunity presented by technology,” she said. “[I] founded Cyberlink to help advance technology for the enjoyment of people.”
The entrepreneur eventually shifted over to Perfect because she “recognized the practical application of AR facial recognition and mobile technologies in the selfie photo-editing and beauty space,” she said. “As a beauty lover, I [saw] how AR technologies could play to improve existing pain points in the beauty shopping journey. Perfect Corp. was born with the focus of re-imaging the consumer beauty experience through advanced technology that helps individuals discover, try, share and shop for beauty.”
A ‘Perfect’ Suite of Apps for the COVID-19 Era
According to Chang, the pandemic only proved AR and AI’s value to the beauty industry, which had to quickly pivot away from its traditional brick-and-mortar makeup counters and face-to-face interactions with customers.
“Our AI- and AR-powered beauty tech solutions have been a lifeline for brands to amplify their online business and create more personalized, engaged digital shopping experiences,” she said.
The CEO noted that virtual try-ons using Perfect’s apps shot up 32 percent during the pandemic’s early months. “Our contactless digital try-on solutions speak to the growing global health and hygiene concerns [by] offering shoppers a safe, convenient and effective way to try before they buy.”
$50 Million in Fresh Funding
Investors like the image that the company is projected.
Xinyi Feng, a managing director in Goldman’s merchant banking division, said in announcing this month’s funding that her firm believes “the integration of technology through artificial intelligence, machine learning and augmented reality into the beauty industry will unlock significant advantages — including amplification of digital sales channels, increased personalization and deeper consumer engagement.”
Chang said Perfect will use the new money to scale up its operations, continue AI tech investment and continue global expansion. Headquartered in Taiwan, the company currently operates in 11 countries and has some 230 staffers spread across 14 cities around the globe.
The company also reportedly got an investment in 2019 from Alibaba as part of a strategic partnership.
Pushing the AR Envelope
Chang said Perfect aims to expand its apps over time, from today’s focus on makeup, skin and hair to include accessories like eyewear and jewelry. She said the company also wants to get into “personality-product matching that opens doors to fragrance and beyond.”
The CEO said she’s motivated to build out Perfect because she believes that “experimenting with beauty through virtual try-on is an empowering experience.”
“It gives you the confidence and skills of a professional makeup artist to discover and experiment with styles you may have never tried in real life,” Chang said. “I like to continue pushing the envelope on what’s possible [and] deliver never-been-done-before solutions to improve the beauty-shopping experience.”
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