IL MAKIAGE Acquires Computer Vision Startup

Beauty company IL MAKIAGE acquired Voyage81, a deep-tech AI-based computational imaging startup. The acquisition enables IL MAKIAGE to use Voyage81’s patented hyperspectral imaging systems to further enhance the company’s machine learning capabilities. The acquisition is the company’s second technology acquisition within the last 24 months.

Voyage81 develops patented software that brings hyperspectral imaging capabilities to smartphones; its software extracts over 30 channels of hyperspectral information from RGB images taken with existing smartphone cameras. Voyage81 is also currently developing a hardware-based solution that builds on the company’s hyperspectral software to enhance photos taken in low-light conditions.

“For the past two years, we have been searching for computational imaging solutions that can work in beauty and wellness to further advance our existing AI capabilities,” IL MAKIAGE CEO Oran Holtzman said. “Bringing on Voyage81’s patented technology and exceptional team to our tech and data science departments is a huge win for our company’s future, our users, and the industry at large.”

Voyage81’s software is capable of mapping and analyzing skin and hair features, detecting facial blood flows, and creating melanin and hemoglobin maps from a simple smartphone camera photo.

“The software-only hyperspectral expansion, which requires only a traditional image from any smartphone camera, will be immediately integrated into the company’s consumer experience,” Holtzman said. “The addition of these vision capabilities provides another dimension of information that will allow us to rapidly expand our capabilities in existing and future domains with a lower amount of data needed for our machine-learning models.”