Uncover Skincare, based in Kenya, has raised $1 million in seed funding in an effort to change the cosmetics and skincare industry through data-driven manufacturing.
Along with angel investors Kwenhui Tawah, the former COO of SokoWatch, and Patricia Ithau, the current CEO of WPP Scangroup, they were joined in the round by FirstCheck Africa, Samata Capital, Future Africa, and IgniteXL. With the latest funding, Uncover has now raised $1.225 million in total since its launch in 2020.
Uncover will use the funds to scale its operations in Kenya before expanding to Nigeria in January. This comes after the company recently launched a new line of skin care products, with ambitions to expand further next year. Its products are sold through its online platform, marketplaces, and partner brand stores.
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“We are using the funding to launch more products, go into additional markets and also double down on our tech and data to effectively produce, reach and market to our audience,” Uncover co-founder and CEO Sneha Mehta said.
Why The Investors Invested
Since its inception, the firm has gained significant traction. Mehta claims that the startup’s revenue has more than doubled since its inception, thanks to increased demand for its goods and the community it is building.
“We have had incredible traction since, and our community has grown from zero to about 60,000 women in Kenya in two years… we have built brand awareness, loyalty and our values of education and knowledge and empowerment have been established at the market,” she said.
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Co-founder Mehta has over ten years of expertise assisting firms in Africa to develop, while Oyateru is a nutritionist and consumer goods expert. Lee is a former economist who is now a filmmaker.
A Look At What The Startup Does
Uncover was started by Mehta, Jade Oyateru (COO), and Catherine Lee (advisor), who were motivated to create a data-driven, digital-first health and wellness brand for the African woman by using their experience and expertise.
After incubation at Antler, Uncover was launched. It makes use of African botanicals and outsources manufacturing to Korean original design manufacturers, who they claim assure their goods are “healthy, safe, inexpensive, and effective.”
“Our production happens in Korea (one of the world’s biggest beauty markets), where we are leveraging the best technology, labs and scientists in the world who understand stability testing, safe ingredients and formulations. We are able to deliver because women in our community have graciously provided information and tried our products, to help us formulate specifically for this market,” said Mehta.
To reach more customers, the startup also provides virtual consultations through an in-house esthetician, creates skin-tertainment content, and just launched a skin quiz for individualised suggestions.
“I have experienced the lack of safety in products firsthand, the lack of information and the feeling of being stuck. This is part of the reason why we are building these tools for people to get personalized information, and advice including diet tips,” Mehta said.
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Uncover intends to expand and strengthen this community, beginning with Kenya and Nigeria, the continent’s next major beauty and personal-brand markets after South Africa.
Uncover Skincare Uncover Skincare
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh