Two Canadian brothers have just secured $10 million US in venture capital to expand their Toronto company which makes and sells tattoos that last only up to 18 days. Inkbox was founded in 2015 by Tyler and Braden Handley.
Tyler Handley and his brother had misgivings about getting permanent tattoos and the idea for a new business was born.
Tattoos ‘we knew we would regret’
“My brother and I wanted a tattoo. But the kinds of designs we wanted were the designs we knew we would regret in 10 to 15 years and it blew our minds that there wasn’t an option for wearing a tattoo without the permanence,” says Tyler Handley.
Removing a tattoo can be complicated and painful. A survey from 2011 suggests that 22per cent of Canadians have at least one tattoo and 11 per cent have more than one. They are particularly popular with the current generation of young people. But another survey suggests one in four people with tattoos regret them.
Hopes to expand international sales
Non-permanent tattoos seem to be catching on as a good alternative. Inkbox sells tattoos from its website. It has thousands of designs and also will custom make them. It ships about 60,000 tattoos a month to more than 150 countries. Most go to the U.S., Canada and European countries.
With the funding now in place, Handley hopes to expand the business rapidly. “It’s exciting…With bringing so much capital into the business it allows us to do a lot more…As a Canadian consumer brand, it’s quite rare. There’s not a lot of consumer brands in Toronto or Canada who are selling in to international markets.
“It allows us to gain an international foothold, to really scale up the business, scale up operations, our brand, our marketing and grow into a mass consumer tattoo brand.”
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