006 - What I'm Reading: Week of August 13th
👋 Hello everyone.
🔗 Every link in this newsletter routes back to my blog where I provide a summary, my opinion, and access to the original content.
⭐️ = What excites me most this week.
💭 Two really exciting aging posts: one, a piece of research reporting a major breakthrough connecting gut health & cognitive aging. The other, an exciting app integrating multiple touch points to estimate and potentially shift the aging process.
🗞 NEWS & PRODUCTS
⭐️ Media Lab Science, a full service clinical testing and content creation studio, marrying the science of testing & storytelling into one studio.
The Strategist published an article about Doris Dev, the design agency making the products behind many of the ‘transparent’ DTC brands, bringing into question how transparent the manufacturing and R&D processes are behind many brands.
⭐️ Gallinee is rethinking dandruff as a pro-bacteria approach, looking away from the most common ingredient - zinc pyrithione.
Pipette, Amyris’ baby + mom product line, is going mass and shifting distribution to become a daily essential.
Casa Home, mood driven candles.
Diagnostics:
Hologram Sciences, backed by DSM, launched d.velop Immunity, a diagnostic based DTC service focused on vitamin D.
⭐️ Humanity, an app, monitoring aging via multiple touchpoints to reduce methylation.
Product Focus - Body Serums:
Over the past few years body care products are being premiumized with the addition of face care ingredients, Anese has taken this one step further, creating a booty serum for hyperpigmentation, scars, and acne on the body.
Pauli & Sisters launched a Repair Serum, a holistic body oil for stretch marks, uneven skin tone, and scars to be used all over the body.
Devices:
P&G launched Venus Radiant Skin, a razor with a built in Olay cartridge. The device dispenses lotion as you shave. The launch follows Panasonic’s award winning electric razor that simultaneously delivers skin care available in Japan. (*Side note….the Venus Radiant Skin is a whole lot plastic…)
VC News:
Brandless, the DTC company with nine-lives, is back again with a fresh round of $118M of debt & equity financing rethinking its vision & setting eyes on acquisitions.
Shiseido announced it is investing in Boyu Capital to strengthen its investment portfolio in China.
🔬RESEARCH
⭐️ ❤️ Admittedly off topic, but could make you smile. A paper in Mammal Review reports on the complex societal structures of giraffes, uncovering their societal similarities to humans & elephants - even finding 30% of female giraffe’s lives are spent in a post reproductive state.
⭐️🤯A paper published in Nature Aging established a correlation between gut health and cognitive aging, showing older mice who received a gut microbe transplant from younger mice demonstrated higher cognitive ability.
L’Oreal files a patent for a device capable of diagnosing skin needs via a non-invasive biomarker analysis paired with an epigenetic questionnaire and providing a personalized product.
🧐 REPORTS
⭐️ McKinsey: Wellness in 2030 - Health, fitness, nutrition, sleep, appearance, and mindfulness are the key areas of focus.
Flowing Data - How We Spent Our Time in 2020 Versus 2019. A report visualizing the data behind our daily activities.
McKinsey - Seven segments shaping China’s consumption landscape
CB Insights: Mid-Year 2021 Global CVC - Key investment trends, investors, deal size & more.
💡Enjoy,
-Anne