Following its acquisition by the private equity firm PAI Partners, the Beautynova Group, which operates in the professional hair care sector, is experiencing a period of strong growth thanks to new patents, the acceleration of its brands and its sustainable and digital development choices.
Born from the acquisition and consolidation of three companies: Pool Service in 2012, Medavita in 2015 and, after the entry of Bluegem in 2019, Panzeri, today z.one concept, in 2020, the Beautynova Group has gone from a turnover of EUR 80 million in 2020 to EUR 135 million in 2023. A development that affects all divisions and businesses. Of the total turnover, 32 million belong to private label, with a division called ‘Beautynova Elite’ serving around 140 customers worldwide.
“Our brands have a total value of 100 million euros,’” says Stefano Banfo, CEO of the Beautynova Group, highlighting the positive development and the main characteristics of the Group, which are the strength of innovation and the ownership of brands with strong potential and consumer recognition, such as milk_shake, Depot and Medavita, to name but a few.
‘We own about 18,000 high-performance professional hair formulas and have recently filed a new patent that will be active from May 2025. This is a great competitive advantage for us,’ adds Banfo. ’Our formulations represent national excellence within a made-in-Italy sector that already stands out in the world by competing with multinationals, which are suffering, and increasingly dynamic indie brands’.
Given that the global professional hair care market, currently valued at approximately 13 billion euro, is expanding at rates of 5-7% annually, the CEO asserts that customer appeal is crucial. This growth is driven by emerging countries, but largely in Europe and America by the development of professional products outside the professional channel.
In the United States, Beautynova achieved a turnover of 23 million euro last year, “but the potential is much greater,” explains Banfo, “we expect to grow significantly. In America, we have a renewed team that is making an interesting acceleration in the professional channel, which remains our priority, but also in retail and online”.
For the full year 2024, Beautynova predicts further growth. However, this will be held back slightly by the situation in Russia.
The Group’s goal is to double turnover within four years with more than half of the growth coming from America, especially from the professional channel. On the private label side, Banfo also expects growth while maintaining its focus on hair care.
Sustainability
Beautynova’s development always keeps a sustainable approach in the foreground. In the last three years in particular, the company has undertaken a path of continuous improvement on the environmental front, halving the CO2 emissions of its factories and implementing a water-saving policy by implanting a water purifier that allows water to be reintroduced into the production process.
Digital development
One of the levers of development is digital evolution, which is being supported by a 4 million euro investment. “PwC is helping us to transfer processes to the new system, to improve them, particularly in the area of sales and operations planning, and to deal with AI. The expertise of international financial players such as Bluegem and PAI has also enabled us to develop digitally, learning, for example, how to communicate and sell online, which also benefits the salons,” explains Banfo.
Partners & Opportunities
“The global professional hair care market is expected to grow around 7% by 2028, with North America and Europe continuing to play a major role, but with Emerging markets (such as the Middle East and South Africa) and Latin America expected to grow at double-digit rates,” says Elena Borghi, Partner PwC Italy Beauty Deals Leader. “The focus on hair ‘skinification’ and a consumer ready to experiment with new products and personalise their routine represent a turning point for the hair care sector, leading the most flexible and innovative companies to take advantage of this growth opportunity. In this context, financial investors are paying particular attention to companies in the sector, where several M&A deals have already been closed (in addition to Beautynova, Ymenso, Nashi, Cotril, HSA), focusing on solid brands, or companies with the potential to scale into new markets or products”.
