🙊 045 - Midweek Mini-Byte: Tuesday, March 31st.
Kiki World's data play, Macy's AI chatbot driving 4x spend, a uterus kept alive outside the body, and the brands we're watching from Bangkok to Doha.
👋 Hello everyone.
🔗 More about me.
Thank you for reading The Juicy Byte! Subscribe to receive new posts and support my work.
⭐️ = What excites me most this week.
***Just remember tomorrow is April 1st…so the weird ‘launches’ you are seeing are likely some marketing intern having fun…I’ve already fallen for a few.
🗞 NEWS & PRODUCTS
Forbes: Beauty is a $667 Billion business and venture capital is finally paying attention.
I contributed to a discussion about Henkel acquiring Olaplex (I do not get into how they decided to acquire it for $1.4B when you look at the current performance (that part scares me)).
🇨🇳 Jing Daily: Top 8 China tech breakthroughs in 2026. From quantum computing to AI-powered hospitals, here are the next-generation technologies and what they mean for your business.
Just for fun:
📻 TechCrunch: Let’s take a look at the retro tech making a comeback.
🧴 Skin / Personal Care:
Honeybalm - balms powered by propolis + beeswax [Instagram].
Kiki World’s newest ‘product’ is an AI skin companion named SAGE…it is $9.99 per month…and a data grab [Instagram].
When Kiki World launched in 2023 - it was a community led beauty platform, since then it has pivoted into broader artist co-creation offering itself as a marketplace to sell goods under beauty, wellness, art…I feel like its lost the plot…and now this…did your community really ask for ChatGPT skin…? I would imagine their consumer is already very tapped in, and doing this. That is why I feel this is a data play, and way to create a more even revenue stream, but who is going to sign up for a monthly membership?
An image from Sage, created by Kiki.
Exponent Beauty - known for their clinical skincare appears to be launching a Droplette like skincare device [Instagram].
Motivo Scar Care - topical skincare and tape to manage scars [Instagram].
PR Newswire: Stratum Biosciences secures $2M Seed round to accelerate AI-powered skin biology discovery and expanded R&D partnerships.
BoF: How skincare brands build trust in the misinformation era. “Mediagenic” physicians, scientists and researchers have become front-facing figures in the skincare trade. Their influence might be waning on social media — but according to brands, is more urgent than ever.
It feels like a fine line between, everyone and their mother dressing up in a lab coat…and products that deliver.
👃 Fragrance:
🇹🇭 Tada Parfumeur - thai based precision scents [Instagram].
🧺 Homecare:
🦷 Oral Care:
💊 Supplements:
sensitive ones - skincare for more than the surface - capsule and liquid shot to support skin health [Instagram].
Mars Men - makers of a testosterone supporting supplement announced they raised a 27.5M Series A round led by L Catterton [Instagram].
👩🔬 Femtech:
Prickly Pear - The AI health companion designed for women navigating the hormonal shifts that impact brain, mood, and daily life [Instagram].
🇶🇦 Feora - organic & hypoallergenic period care from Doha [Instagram].
🛍 Retail: DTC, Brick + Mortar, Social Commerce, and more...
Bloomberg: Macy’s says users of new AI chatbot spend about 400% more online.
Business Insider: Gen Z’s spending glow-up is running into a $4 gas problem.
🩺 Digital Health: Wearables, Smart Devices, and more...
Triangle is an AI health assistant that organizes your medical records and helps you understand your diagnosis, treatment options, and clinical trials in plain language [Instagram].
MIT Technology Review: A woman’s uterus has been kept alive outside the body for the first time. The team behind the feat plan to study uterine disorders and the early stages of pregnancy—and potentially grow a human fetus.
Bloomberg: Meta to launch new AI glasses aimed at prescription wearers.
TechCrunch: Whoop’s fitness band is cool. Can it stay cool as the company grows?
🗣 Social Media: News about TikTok, Meta, BeReal, Snapchat, X...
🇦🇹 engadget: Austria is pursuing a social media ban for kids under 14. The upcoming legislation will be introduced by the end of June, according to the vice chancellor behind the efforts.
💸 M&A, IPOs, SPACs, Bankruptcies, Closings...
🇮🇳 Jing Daily: Dealmaking heats up as Estée Lauder, L’Oréal and Unilever target India growth. Winning will depend on cultural fluency, innovation depth and long-term market discipline.
BoF: Unilever, McCormick near deal to create $60 Billion food business.
The deal would give the UK consumer goods giant $15.7 billion in cash to streamline its portfolio toward beauty and personal care.
📉 Bloomberg: Allbirds to be bought by American Exchange for $39 Million.
The brand management group, whose portfolio and licensing partnerships include labels like Aerosoles and Ed Hardy, has agreed to buy all assets and intellectual property of the once-buzzy footwear brand.
🔬RESEARCH
AI that flatters you is the AI you trust most, even as it quietly makes your judgment worse [Science].
Graphene oxide kills bacteria by targeting a membrane lipid absent in human cells , pointing toward a skin-safe, antibiotic-sparing wound treatment, though human validation remains pending [Advanced Functional Materials].
🧐 REPORTS
PWC: Generation Alpha Survey 2026. The youngest chief influence officers.
81% of kids say they influence skincare and beauty purchases, only 61% of parents agree. Brands marketing only to moms may be missing the actual decision-maker.
57% of second- and third-graders say social media makes them want to buy things. These are 7-year-olds. The funnel starts earlier than anyone’s planning for.
86% of kids ages 7–14 say they earn their own money. Gen Alpha has purchasing power and a framework for how to use it.
CB Insights: 5 2026 Digital Health Predictions.
Spate X Innocos: The Comprehensive Guide to Longevity Across Beauty & Wellness.
Pew Research Center: The United States at 250 - How the Country Has Changed in the Past 50 Years.
Digital Culturalist: The mall was never just a mall. We dismissed it as consumerism. Turns out the mall was holding us together.
💡 Enjoy,
-Anne