This Jerez-based startup won the Andalucia Entrepreneur’s Day 2018 award last week. They had previously received other recognitions including the Cosmoprof Awards, the Ruben RubialesCo-founder and CEO of lesial , defined as “the Oscars in the world of cosmetics”. See you in the next issue of south peak where they were finalists in the B2C category. Another milestone was reaching a collection of nearly €22,000 in a Kickstarter campaign where most projects are technology based.

And that the founding team skipped some of those rules that supposedly always fail. Rubén Rubiales was a childhood friend of Alberto Portillo (CTO) and friend of Sophie Suter. This does not mean that the 3 were the first to draft and sign a partnership agreement.

The product, which they plan to launch before the end of the year, initially consists of hardware that acts as a donor. In it, a base cream is introduced, suitable for each specific skin type, and then they offer up to 16 different specific active ingredients, packed in capsules, which customers can combine as needed according to the characteristics of their skin, whether it is dry or oily, mixed, with redness, anti-aging, peeling… For each skin type there are variants such as sunscreen, different textures and another option to choose between 100% natural or a mixture of natural and laboratory ingredients. This allows the customer to produce personalized cosmetics at a lower price than usual with just a push of a button and from the comfort of their own home. That’s the value proposition of this company, which claims to have “created the world’s first adaptive cosmetics.”

Tell the products they use that they develop new formulas but don’t devote themselves to researching assets using the same ones that have been on the market for years and have been well tested. “It takes years and money to do that, and we also wanted to offer ingredients with a proven track record to ensure effectiveness,” says Rubiales.

Cosmetics, an attractive area for investors

The idea caught the attention of investors almost from the start and brought, among other things Franz Fortes, who will also be responsible for business development and sales. Likewise, they are negotiating the entry of new capitalist and strategic partners related to the sector. They will thus be more relaxed about the manufacturing process they have just immersed themselves in, and then distribute the product through online sales and major retailers in the beauty world, such as El Corte Inglés or Primor, to name just one example.

On the other hand, to dispel the doubts of people who do not know exactly what their skin type is or which compounds suit them, they are developing a mobile application with the appropriate recommendations. They will therefore use the ad hoc treatment to care for their skin for a period of approximately seven weeks. They have set the introductory price at €99, which includes the dispenser, the base cream and 3 capsules with different active ingredients. Then the price of each individual cartridge depends on the asset, but on average it ranges from 5 to 7 euros.

So far they have invested EUR 325,000, of which EUR 125,000 is their own funds. As for the forecasts, Rubiales doesn’t dare to venture too much because it will depend in part on the conclusion of some negotiations “with very powerful players”.

The team is still in the research and development phase, so we don’t know when they will launch the first product.

cosmetics