Sharjah-based sustainable online beauty products platform Secret Skin has secured $765,000 in a new angel investment round.
The funding round saw the participation of leaders from e-commerce (Amazon), fintech (SPOTII) and retail.
Secret Skin plans to use the pre-seed financing to enhance its brand portfolio of global sustainable beauty brands for its DTC offering, advance its B2B2C value proposition which caters to local communities as well as increase its market share within the GCC region.
CEO and founder of Secret Skin, Anisha Oberoi, said: “We are very proud to have closed our pre-seed funding round with strategic angels and remain optimistic about our growth potential in the GCC in the near term.
“Having seen an encouraging market response in our early days to the unique category of bio-engineered clean beauty, we will be focusing our energies in the coming period on our B2B offerings, which we recently launched with high-end spas and wellness destinations in the UAE.”
The last 24 months have been especially fruitful for the company, with Secret Skin launching international and local clean beauty brands to nurture a holistic health and wellness beauty ecosystem for Middle Eastern customers.
Next year, the brand plans to leverage several digital aspects of its online platform, including tech-enabled personalisation, which will complement its current virtual beauty concierge which offers one-on-one beauty consults.
“Meanwhile, the Middle East & Africa region is worth $36 billion and expected to reach $61 billion by 2026. Secret Skin is uniquely positioned to be the leader in the sustainable beauty sector within this space,” said Ms Oberoi.
According to Euromonitor, the global beauty and personal market is forecast to reach $729 billion by 2026, with GCC countries remaining one of the most lucrative markets for the sector.
“The beauty market is huge, and Secret Skin’s sustainability-driven model is both healthier for our body and the earth. Consumers will increasingly make lifestyle choices driving this trend. It feels good to back Secret Skin and Anisha to be at the forefront of this movement,” said founder of Dubai Investment Angels and Head of CVC at E& Capital, Kushal Shah.
