Ceremonia
Babba Rivera never saw her Latina heritage on a beauty shelf, so she built it. Ceremonia turned Latin American ingredients and rituals into one of the first Latina-owned haircare brands at Sephora.
Babba Rivera grew up between Chile and Sweden and never once saw her Latina heritage reflected on a beauty shelf. In 2021 she decided to put it there. Ceremonia is a haircare brand built on Latin American ingredients and rituals, treating hair the way skincare treats skin, and it turned a guava leave-in conditioner into one of the first Latina-owned haircare brands to land at Sephora.
Rivera raised $11.5 million to build it, capped by a $10 million Series A in late 2022, and reached her first $100,000 in sales within 100 days of launch. She had spent her career in marketing and brand-building before Ceremonia, and she used that skill to turn heritage that the beauty industry had ignored into a brand it had to make room for.
At a glance:
| Founded | 2021, by Babba Rivera |
| Positioning | Latinx-rooted haircare, ritual-based, “get to the root cause” |
| Hero product | Aceite de Moska guava-based leave-in conditioner |
| Funding | $11.5 million total, incl. a $10M Series A (late 2022) |
| Retail | Sephora, Credo, Net-a-Porter, and DTC |
| Early traction | $100,000 in sales within 100 days |
The Story
The founder who didn’t see herself on the shelf
Rivera’s story is an immigrant’s. Raised between Chilean roots and a Swedish upbringing, she grew up feeling between cultures, and when she looked at the beauty aisle she never saw her heritage represented in it. She built a career in marketing and brand-building first, work that taught her how brands earn attention and loyalty, and carried that skill into the gap she’d always felt.
Treating haircare like skincare
Ceremonia’s premise was to bring the ritual and rigor of skincare to hair: get to the root cause of hair concerns rather than mask them, using Latin American ingredients like guava, hibiscus, and aloe drawn from the traditions Rivera grew up around. That reframing gave the brand a point of view beyond ethnicity, a genuine approach to hair health that happened to be rooted in a culture the industry had overlooked.
$100,000 in 100 days, then Sephora
The market noticed quickly. Ceremonia hit $100,000 in sales within its first 100 days, won more than ten awards for its formulas, and became one of the first Latina-owned haircare brands to enter Sephora. Rivera had always framed omnichannel as the goal, and before Sephora, Ceremonia had already placed itself in prestige retailers like Credo and Net-a-Porter.
Raising $11.5 million
Behind the growth was capital. Rivera raised early money from firms including Silas Capital and Beliade, then closed a $10 million Series A in late 2022, bringing the total to $11.5 million, funding an expansion to hundreds of Sephora doors. For a Latina founder in a category that had received almost none of the industry’s investment, the raise was itself a statement.
The Strategy
Heritage as the product, not the decoration
Ceremonia didn’t use Latinx identity as a marketing veneer over generic formulas. It built the products around actual Latin American ingredients and rituals, so the heritage was the substance of the brand, not a label on it. That authenticity is why the brand read as real to the customers it served and hard to copy for the ones who tried.
Skincare thinking for hair
By framing hair care as root-cause treatment rather than surface fix, Ceremonia gave itself a performance story that stood on its own. A brand that solves a real problem, not just represents an identity, earns repeat purchases, which is what turns a debut into a business.
Omnichannel from the start
Rather than stay DTC-only, Rivera pursued prestige retail early, Credo and Net-a-Porter before Sephora, treating distribution breadth as the plan from day one. Being visible where different customers already shop widened the funnel well beyond a single website.
The Marketing
A founder who knew how to build a brand
Rivera’s background was marketing, and it showed. She built Ceremonia’s aesthetic, voice, and community with a fluency most first-time founders lack, growing a personal platform of well over 100,000 followers and using it to put a face and a story at the center of the brand. When the founder is a genuine brand-builder, the marketing is a compounding asset, not a cost.
Representation with substance
Ceremonia became a prominent Latina-owned brand in prestige beauty at a time when very few existed, and its award-winning formulas kept the story from being only about representation. That combination, a community that finally felt seen plus products that actually delivered, gave the brand earned attention and a loyalty broader lines couldn’t easily win.
The Numbers
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 2021 | Ceremonia launches; $100K in sales within 100 days |
| 2021–22 | Early funding from Silas Capital, Beliade; enters Credo, Net-a-Porter |
| Late 2022 | $10M Series A closes, $11.5M raised in total |
| 2023 | Becomes one of the first Latina-owned haircare brands at Sephora |
The raise: $11.5 million total funding, unusual for a Latina-founded brand in a category that has historically received a tiny share of beauty investment. The $10 million Series A in late 2022 funded the Sephora expansion to hundreds of doors.
Ceremonia is privately held and does not disclose revenue, but the funding, the awards, and the Sephora rollout mark a brand on a clear upward path.
What You Can Learn
The absence you feel is a market. Rivera never saw her heritage on the shelf, and that gap became the business. The thing missing from your world is often the thing worth building. Start from the void you’ve personally lived.
Make heritage the substance, not the sticker. Ceremonia built real products around real traditions, so its identity was the product itself. Authenticity that goes all the way into the formula is the version competitors can’t fake.
Your background is your unfair advantage. Rivera’s marketing career let her build a brand and a community faster than a first-time founder could. Whatever skill you bring from your past life is the edge you build the company on.
Solve a real problem while you represent. The award-winning formulas kept Ceremonia from being only a representation story. Representation opens the door; performance keeps the customer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who founded Ceremonia?
Babba Rivera, a Chilean-Swedish entrepreneur with a background in marketing and brand-building, founded Ceremonia in 2021 to create a haircare brand rooted in her Latin American heritage.
What is Ceremonia known for?
Ceremonia is a Latinx-rooted haircare brand that treats hair care like skincare, built around Latin American ingredients like guava, hibiscus, and aloe. Its guava-based leave-in conditioner is a bestseller, and it’s one of the first Latina-owned haircare brands at Sephora.
How much funding has Ceremonia raised?
Ceremonia has raised $11.5 million in total, including a $10 million Series A in late 2022, with earlier investment from firms including Silas Capital and Beliade.
Where is Ceremonia sold?
Ceremonia is sold at Sephora, Credo, and Net-a-Porter, as well as its own website. Founder Babba Rivera pursued an omnichannel strategy from the start.
Sources
- Inc., “How Babba Rivera Built Ceremonia”. The guava leave-in bestseller, $11.5M funding, and the $10M Series A.
- Forbes, “Babba Rivera Is Building A Haircare Empire With Ceremonia,” March 2023. Founding vision and ritual-based, root-cause approach.
- Beauty Independent, “Ceremonia Becomes One Of The First Latina-Owned Haircare Brands At Sephora”. Sephora entry, omnichannel strategy, and earlier funding.
- Female Startup Club, “Babba Rivera raised $1M+ for Ceremonia”. Awards, momentum, and Sephora launch.
- Starter Story, “How Babba Rivera Grew Ceremonia to $100K in 100 Days”. Early sales traction.