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Kokko
DefunctTechstars '17Los Altos, US · Founded 2014 · 1 employees on LinkedIn · 2 known investors
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Kokko is a Los Altos beauty technology company whose app and color chart match foundation shades to a user's skin tone.
Also known as Kokko Beauty
Investors · 2
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How we know: Matchstick Ventures's portfolio page · Not right? Tell us
How we know: the Techstars portfolio · open dataset · Top 3000 Accelerator Startups (no YC) 2026-08 · Not right? Tell us
Company profile
researched Sep 2026Kokko is a beauty technology company based in Los Altos, California, that developed color-accurate mobile imaging technology for cosmetics discovery. Its product centers on a smartphone app used together with a printed Kokko ColorChart: the user photographs their face alongside the chart, and because the chart supplies known color values, the system can correct for camera and lighting variability and estimate skin color more precisely than image-only matching approaches.
Once skin color is determined, Kokko applies an expert system built from data collected by having professional makeup artists match foundation shades to many women in person; that data set is used to predict the appropriate foundation for a new user. The stated aim is to return a single correct foundation match rather than several approximate ones, addressing the gap between online purchasing and in-store shade testing.
The company is associated with AI and machine learning classifications and targets consumers in the beauty and cosmetics market.
Founding story
Founder Nina Bhatti previously served as chief scientist of the mobile color research group at Hewlett-Packard and as a senior technologist at Nokia. She pursued approximate mobile color matching despite skepticism from color scientists accustomed to highly precise instrumented measurement, arguing that only enough accuracy to choose the correct foundation shade was required. She has described difficulty conveying the foundation-matching problem to predominantly male investors unfamiliar with the beauty market.
Business model
Kokko offered a consumer mobile application paired with a physical color reference chart, using the chart to calibrate smartphone camera measurements of a user's skin tone and then recommending matching foundation products. Classification data associates the company with consumer-facing software and recurring software revenue.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
Kokko operates in the beauty and cosmetics technology segment, alongside companies such as 6P Color, Cinta Color, Podozi, Foundera Beauty, FineEye Color Solutions, Color Intelligence and Il Makiage.
Kokko's approach relies on a physical color reference chart photographed alongside the user's face, giving the algorithm a known color quantity and, according to the company, greater precision than makeup-matching apps that rely on the camera image alone. The method adapts calibration practice from early Technicolor film production, and deliberately targets "good enough" approximate color matching sufficient to select among a finite set of foundation shades rather than laboratory-grade colorimetric accuracy.
Technology
Mobile imaging and color science: a printed color chart of known reflectance values is photographed in the same frame as the user's face, allowing the app to calibrate for lighting and camera differences and estimate skin color. Shade recommendation uses an expert system trained on data from makeup artists matching foundations to women in person. The company is classified under AI and machine learning.
Go-to-market
Consumers purchasing makeup, particularly those seeking a foundation shade that matches their skin tone.
Geography
Headquartered in Los Altos, California, with geographic exposure described as the Americas.
History
The company was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in Los Altos, California. It participated in the Techstars Retail accelerator in 2017 and reported total funding of $150,000 as of July 2017. Its operating status is listed as inactive.
Compiled by commissioned research from 5 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Key figures
latest reportedCompany-reported or press-reported figures, each dated to when it was claimed — not independently audited.
Timeline · 3
launches, deals, and filingsKokko's most recent reported funding, totaling $150,000, bringing total raised to $150,000 as of July 17, 2017.
$150K source ↗
Kokko took part in the Techstars: Retail accelerator program in 2017.
Kokko offered its physical ColorChart free (shipping only, $1.30) to readers of The Beheld via a promotional code, in conjunction with its foundation-matching mobile app.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 5
primary sources listed
- Aventureaventure.vc · web
5 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Kokko do?
- Kokko is a Los Altos beauty technology company whose app and color chart match foundation shades to a user's skin tone.
- Who are Kokko's investors?
- Kokko's investors include Matchstick Ventures, Techstars.
- Where is Kokko headquartered?
- Kokko is headquartered in Los Altos, US.