008 - What I'm Reading: Week of August 27th
👋 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.
💭 This week features a number of ‘science backed’ personal care brands. When researching these brands few show actual evidence or real research behind these products. Most of these brands are propelled by marketing sprinkled with ‘science’. There are a number of up & coming startups still in the stealth phase, who are putting in the research, collecting the data, creating IP-able tech, and truly innovating solutions. Understandably, R&D is both capital and time intensive. Right now it feels like this sector is in a nascent phase, where many of these early solutions will be pushed to the side once the next-gen technologies are launched, which gives me hope for products that are both differentiated by efficacy and technology in the future.
🗞 NEWS & PRODUCTS
⭐️ Gingko Bioworks, the favorite synthetic biology startup in VC, is set to go public via a SPAC in September. MIT Technology Review, takes a critical look at the technology, lack of revenue, business model/practices, and valuation of this company. The startup is positioning itself as a platform service versus other companies in this space like Amyris, Geltor, & Zymergen who have focused on product as a form of revenue.
Sifted features the 73 startups from European founders in Y-Combinators newest batch. One of the startups focuses on hair loss for chemotherapy patients - developing a device to prevent it. Another startup of interest is a collaborative database tracking the carbon footprint of any product - what is is not clear is whether consumer use will be measured.
🛏 Sleep:
⭐️ Galventa is rethinking sleep supplements, developing a nutraceutical taken at night making the process of waking up easier & more refreshing.
🧴 Skincare:
⭐️ SkinBioTherapeutics is launching a probiotic supplement capable of improving the symptoms of psoriasis, using a blend of microbes including L. Reteuri. The company is leveraging the gut-skin axis to find better solutions for skin health challenges.
In 2018 Shiseido acquired MIT based Olivo Labs, a startup specializing in second skin technology. Shiseido announced it will be launching its first product with this new technology, an under eye second skin, come October 2021 in Japan under the Bio Performance line.
Uoma by Sharon C offers a dry wipe, a solution to the challenge of preservatives in wet wipes (this links to a research paper referenced below on wipes).
Elite World Group has partnered with Elysium Health to develop a topical skincare line. The line’s point of differentiation is ‘science’ which of course begs the question….what will be the unique point of difference, who is the audience, will there be a unique ingredient, and so much more…
Skin Pot Co., an India based bootstrapped skincare line, is putting clinical and evidenced based science first in its new product line. Products include skincare, menopause focused products, and intimate care. The big question is where is the evidence and what kind of clinical testing is really behind this brand.
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley launched her clean skincare & make up line Rosie Inc. via Amyris (this links to the article about Gingko Bioworks).
👩🦱 Hair:
Pinterest launched a search tool for hair textures, where Pinterest can recommend protective styles, curly styles, coily styles, and more based on hair texture.
As mentioned in the article about Gingko Bioworks, Amyris launched JVN, the new clean skincare line from Jonathan Van Ness.
Scalp care is coming further into focus with launches from Necessaire & Dr.ForHair’s entrance in the States. Necessaire published results of a clinical perception study for its products while Dr.ForHair makes hair loss cosmetic claims.
♻️ Sustainable Design
Shimmy is a new sustainably designed hand sanitizer system for the home. Aesthetically the product is an improvement on the industrial Purell station, whether the hand sanitizer itself is any better is unclear.
🛍 Retail (e-Comm & Social Commerce):
China’s Bilibili is the sleeper-hit beauty platform for Gen Z & Millennials, showing impressive growth over the past year.
TikTok is expanding its partnership with Shopify, taking on Instagram and Facebook in the social commerce space.
💸 M&A
Bodewell is the first brand from P&G’s partnership with M13 to be acquired by P&G. The brand uses a P&G core technology to power a line of skincare, cleansers, and hair products that address psoriasis & eczema.
🔬RESEARCH
⭐️ A paper in ACS Sensors describes a bio-fuel cell capable of detecting and transmitting data about urine & urine glucose levels. This breakthrough paper fuel cell technology developed in Japan is a step forward in the elderly care market, making live monitoring and disease detection seamless.
⭐️ A team of researchers have identified the genetic variation contributing to stage III/IV endometriosis, a major advancement in female health.
New research shows a strong connection between early exposure to antibiotics and the relationship between gut-health and life-span, suggesting a strong role in future microbiota therapies.
Researchers in Israel published findings on the challenges of preserving wet wipes. Dry wipes are one solution, as mentioned above.
🧐 REPORTS
An interesting deep dive into the women’s health space by OMER Ventures, examining overlooked opportunities and the need to reframe femtech as women’s health.
CB Insights dives in Discord, explaining what it is, how it generates revenues, it’s competitors, and the future in this space. Marketing Dive published a piece this week about how brands can tap into emergent culture on Discord using social listening.
A report by CB Insights lists 90+ corporate innovation labs. Different types of corporate innovation groups are being created within companies, especially in the consumer space with the hope of keeping up with the fresh startup space. There are many challenges in these groups including internal thinking, structure, and politics. No model is perfect but the corporate venture creation model where corporates partner with external VCs to grow new brands is one area of shiny new growth (e.g. the above mentioned partnership between M13 & P&G).
💡Enjoy,
-Anne