036 - What I'm Reading: Week of March 25th
👋 Hello everyone.
🔗 Links in this newsletter route back to my blog or directly to the original content.
⭐️ = What excites me most this week.
💭 Shiseido designs a rapid bacteria analyzer, a look at how viral Amazon brands can grow, functional beverage drops, Douyin’s impact on beauty, Andreeson Horowitz ranks the world’s top 50 data startups, and much more.
🗞 NEWS & PRODUCTS
Amazon Fresh launches a plant based private label called Fresh Plant-Based. The line includes 15 products at launch.
🇨🇦 The New York Times covers the rise of tech in Toronto.
Thrive Market’s private label push.
🆓 FreeWater is on a mission to make essentials free, using packaging as an advertising platform.
🇨🇳 A look at how China’s new packaging regulations will impact beauty.
ICYMI:
👩🎤 Celebrity Brands…
Twice, an oral care brand co-founded by Lenny Kravitz, is relaunching at Target. The brand is relaunching with bright yellow packaging.
🧴 Skin / Personal Care:
⭐️ 🇨🇳 Jing Daily analyzes the new Chinese beauty and food brands leaning on ancient traditions.
ROSEN Skincare has a new line of ‘breakout care’ products addressing Gen-Z acne.
Nubiome, a biofermented plant based skincare line inspired by the microbiome.
☠️ Cutter, known for their bug repellants, launches a line of poison ivy post care. One product is a wipe that removes the poisonous oil, to reduce reactions, and the other is a hydrocortisone cream.
💩 Capsule.London is a line of refillable plant-based sprays to be used before & after pooing to reduce anxiety around public poos.
👩🦱 Hair:
Hair Syrup: A line of targeted pre-wash treatments.
💊 Supplements:
Clear Within, a supplement formulated with nine ingredients for hormonal acne.
Baloo, a line of functional seltzers, designed to increase serotonin & dopamine levels.
⭐️ Functional beverage drops for hydration, energy, and immunity.
⭐️ Ok Capsule, a B2B solutions for personalized supplements, raises $9.5M for growth.
🛍 Retail:
An article in the New York Times looks at what is motivating brands to shift towards traditional marketing, physical retail, as the cost of digital marketing rises, and retail leases are being incentivized.
India’s Nykaa looks to expand its retail footprint further.
👩🔬 Femtech:
⭐️ Undark examines why birth-control side effects have ‘eluded’ science.
Alife raises $22M to improve IVF outcomes using AI for better personalization and new products for optimized egg retrieval.
🩺 Digital Health: Wearables, Smart Devices, and More...
♻️ Sustainable Design:
Circla, the UK, personal care/household care circular marketplace, stocking only refillable products. Circla curates refillable products, and collects them to be refilled after use.
💸 M&A, IPOs, SPACs...:
L’Occitane acquired a majority stake in Grown Alchemist. According to WWD the deal is said to be “in excess of 50 million Australian dollars, or $37.4 million at current exchange.”
🔬RESEARCH
🦠 Nature: Far-UVC reduces airborne pathogens by 98% after 5 minutes in enclosed locations. A safe and affordable option for eradicating viruses like COVID and more.
🐭 A new male contraceptive pill proved 99% effective in mice, with little to no side effects, now on to human trials…
Microbiome:
⭐️ 🦠 Shiseido developed a ‘unique skin bacteria device’ capable of rapidly analyzing skin swab samples in 40 minutes (versus weeks).
Research out of Singapore found that children who suffer from atopic dermatitis share common microbial signatures that can predict the condition with their caretakers, justifying therapies for both patient and caretaker.
🧐 REPORTS
⭐️ ThingTesting: What’s the real cost of free shipping for direct-to-consumer brands?
⭐️ 🇨🇳 BeautyTech.JP: Douyin Becomes Beauty Brand Marketing Mainstay in China. A look at Douyin’s and Red’s engagement and growth in the beauty sector and what this means for Alibaba’s future.
GWI: Gen Z Retail Trends.
⭐️ Andreeson Horowitz: Data50, the World’s Top Data Startups.
CB Insights: The Future of Fashion - From design to merchandising, how tech is reshaping the industry. This report looks at the role of AI in design, traceable technologies for authenticity and transparency, virtual merchandising, shifts in retail, sustainability, and the future (including virtual fashion, wearables and more).
🏆 Just for fun: The Pudding - Correlating Coughs to Best Picture Wins.
💡Enjoy,
-Anne