The 5 Korean beauty startups selected by NIVEA Accelerator
The German cosmetics maker Beiersdorf has kicked off their South Korean beauty startup accelerator program by selecting their first five startups. We take a closer look at the chosen five.
Beiersdorf’s accelerator program
Beiersdorf’s most famous brand Nivea has entered into a partnership with office-sharing company WeWork in South Korea. Together they’re embarking on a search for hidden potential among K-beauty startups. One of their initiatives has been holding the first Nivea Accelerator (NX) event where around 200 different startups participated to compete to be selected for the support program. Ten of them were chosen for a chance to pitch to a committee of Nivea executives, and in the end, five were selected as the first batch of startups to be supported in the NX program. They were UNPA Cosmetics, Reziena, Limese, Glowhill and Panda.
UNPA Cosmetics is a venture business which operates one of the largest cosmetics social media and review site in South Korea, Eonni Ui Pauchi (or abbreviated to UNPA). In Korean, the name means “big sister’s pouch”. However, UNPA wasn’t selected for the accelerator program just because of their popular platform.
UNPA’s other strength is their development of PB (private brand) products that utilize big data. These include “Bubi Bubi Lip”, which was developed through analyzing the data of around a million users. This, as well as a string of other popular products released by UNPA, are being sold through major South Korean ‘H&B stores’ (aka cosmetics retailers) that include Olive Young, LOHB’s, lalavla and Aritaum, along with around 4,000 stores in South Korea. They are also currently building up exports to countries such as Singapore and the US.
Another startup chosen was Reziena, a company developing personal homecare beauty IoT devices that use high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) technology. At the consumer technology exposition CES2019, Reziena revealed their homecare solution “young &be”. Their products and solutions come customizable and small-sized, allowing for powerful devices normally used by dermatologists and beauticians to be used in consumer’s homes. This gives users the ability to cut back on the time and costs spent going to clinics. From here on, Reziena has plans to develop an AI platform based on users’ personal data with the goal of offering them a more high-quality and personalized beauty care service in the comfort of their home.
Limese is a startup that runs an online store selling K-beauty products and PB brands to the Indian market. They also supply goods to Indian department stores and drug stores and are expanding their business to target young people in India in their 20s and 30s. They’re also actively partnering with cosmetics brands in South Korea and are being regarded as a promising mediator for the expansion of Korean brands to India.
The other two startups include Glowhill, an indie skincare brand currently gaining popularity in South Korea, and Panda, who has developed a grain-type skincare pack cream that uses Korean rice grains. Both are next-generation K-beauty startups.
Mentoring-focused support
To sum it up, the startups selected for the NX program include a company with a foot firmly in big data and IoT technologies, an online shopping firm with access to a large overseas market, and other companies that are approaching skincare with new concepts.
It’s anticipated that Beiersdorf will use this accelerator program to further strengthen their relationship with beauty startups in South Korea. As to how they will be supporting these startups, Beiersdorf’s representative of the Asia-Pacific region, Ralph Gusko, told South Korean media that “the way we’re working with each startup is different depending on their strengths and weaknesses”. Gusko’s stance is to give each of the startups the support most suited to them individually, while also keeping an eye on the challenges they each face.
Although the 15,000 euros and other subsidies granted to each startup aren’t stratospheric in terms of funds, the kind of support that Beiersdorf wants to concentrate on is mentoring. In order for innovative and trend-sensitive South Korean startups to stand a chance against the global competition, it’s essential that they can establish their brand and level of quality over the long-term without a loss of trust. Gusko says that Beiersdorf, a company with an illustrious and long history, will be able to provide many forms of backing and services to these companies.
Sephora will also be expanding into South Korea come the latter half of 2019, and apparently one of their main goals is to search for promising South Korean cosmetics startups. It looks as though we will continue to see this honeymoon period between global cosmetics corporations and South Korean cosmetics startups- of which many have had their eyes set on global expansion from the beginning.
Text: Ching Li Tor
Original text (Japanese): Jonggi Ha
