SQIN: your personalized companion for healthy skin
Meet Maria and Martin. Together, they are on a mission to guide people on their path to greater well-being.
Sometimes we look in the mirror and think: I really don’t look that good today. Which is normal. Yet many people look in the mirror and become unhappier each time they do, their self-esteem suffers from blemishes or skin diseases such as acne. According to a survey, 85 percent of people between the ages of 12 and 24 experience at least minor acne — and one in four adults reports skin diseases.
It’s a bigger problem than many think. “60 percent of people feel bad when they look in the mirror,” says Martin Pentenrieder, co-founder of SQIN. “And 65 percent of skin issues might lead to mental illnesses.” Thus, skincare is self-care.
“SQIN is as individual as you are — for everyone.”
That’s why Martin and Maria built the SQIN platform together — to give people a personalized skin companion that guides them on their transformation to healthy skin and greater well-being. An app that is a place for everyone to find out everything they need to know about skincare, regardless of their appearance, age, ethnicity, income or where they live. Maria-Liisa Bruckert, also SQIN co-founder, says, “SQIN is as individual as you are — for everyone.”
On their platform, users learn more about what skin actually is, what skin type they have, and what the condition of their skin is. The next step is for the app to not only find the right products and treatment for your skin. Behind every recommendation and advice, SQIN has a human expert in addition to an ai-powered engine that takes into account nutrition, lifestyle, current skincare products, and a photo-based analysis of the skin. Beyond that, SQIN is not a one-off: just as fitness programs track personal progress, SQIN continuously accompanies users on their journey to healthier skin and greater well-being.
Driven to create a positive impact
Since launching the MVP in December 2020, a long testing phase, the company was officially founded in 2021 and relaunched in April 2021. The team collaborates across four continents — and that includes APX. “We always want to evolve, and APX provides the perfect network to do that,” Maria says. “As part of the Google female founders program, I strongly believe that mentors are incredibly valuable. And just as Martin and I mentor other founders, we’ve found many personalities in the APX network to help us move forward and to have a positive impact on people’s lives.”
Having an impact: That’s what drives Maria and Martin. Not only do they make a good team in their private lives, as they are married, but they also complement each other in their professional partnership: Martin founded his first projects as a teenager, then his first company during his studies, which he later dropped out of. He co-founded and scaled a clean energy start-up. One reason why Forbes magazine put him on the Forbes 30-under-30 list in 2021.
Maria is an expert in overseeing the big picture in a structured way. In her previous role at Siemens, she helped develop the global digital strategy and is a specialist in the digital transformation of processes — as she is doing now at SQIN. She knows not only the challenges of skincare — her mother is a beautician, but also what a negative body image can do to people. She used to be a competitive heptathlete and says that back then, in the locker room after exercise, she met many other athletes who developed self-esteem issues in part because of their skin.
Now she hopes that SQIN will help as many people as possible, bringing a smile to their face when looking in the mirror.
Follow SQIN’s journey on LinkedIn, Instagram and explore their website.
