Cosmetics brand CODEMINT BEAUTY — co-founded by Chinese Internet celebrity Grace Chow — has received strategic funding from New Incubation Ventures (NIV), the early-stage investment and incubation arm of US luxury beauty firm The Estée Lauder Companies, according to an official announcement on September 6.
The deal marks NIV’s first-ever investment in China. The Hangzhou-registered brand did not divulge the financial details of the round.
The firm describes itself as a clean beauty brand that does not use harmful chemicals such as mineral oils, synthetic fragrances, and alcohol. Clean beauty also includes transparent labelling of product ingredients and does not involve animal testing.
The brand taps into the Chinese market where consumers are increasingly aware of the product features, specifications, and ingredients, among others, according to a report published by global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company.
“In skincare, companies are listening to a rising cohort of Chinese “skintellectuals” – buyers interested in understanding the source and efficacy of ingredients – and doubling down on marketing products that appeal to them. In some cases, sales of such products have doubled in the past two years, while suppliers of skincare ingredients have doubled their research budgets since 2020,” the analyst in the report commented.
Founded in 2020 by Chow and Lynn Zhu, who previously worked as a policy analyst at the United Nations, the brand counts South Korea’s cosmetic manufacturing major COSMAX Inc. as one of its investors.
CHINA DEAL MONITOR
DealStreetAsia has also put together a table listing all prominent venture capital transactions in the Greater China region from September 4 – 8, 2023.
