Healthy aging skin care brand OneSkin has secured a $7 million series A investment bringing its total funding to $20 million.
The oversubscribed round was led by Selva Ventures, a previous investor that the brand has been working with the last two years, with participation from Plus Capital; Unilever Ventures; Able Partners; Brazilian American model, designer and Matthew McConaughey’s wife Camila Alves McConaughey; tech entrepreneur Kevin Rose, and former investors SOSV and Meta Planet.
“We knew that we could utilize more resources to fuel the company’s growth, so we actually went around and talked to several investors, and luckily, we got several term sheets,” said cofounder, chief executive officer and Ph.D. Carolina Reis de Oliveira. “We saw a lot of interest in OneSkin and what we’re doing in our positioning and the traction that we got so far.”
OneSkin cofounders Juliana Carvalho, Carolina Reis de Oliveira, Alessandra Zonari and Mariana Boroni, and OneSkin director of products Lear Brace.
Laurie Frankel
OneSkin, founded by four scientists/Ph.D.s Reis de Oliveira, Alessandra Zonari, Mariana Boroni and Juliana Carvalho, is best known for its skin and body care infused with its signature OS-01 peptide, which the brand claims can reverse and slow skin aging by reducing senescent or “zombie” cells — the accumulation of senescent cells lead to skin aging and can negatively impact skin function. OneSkin has conducted clinical studies on the ingredient with third-party research organizations to back these claims. With its raise, the team plans to expand this level of innovation and research.
“One [goal] is to continue to foster innovation, so we know that OneSkin already has a very differentiated technology IP with our proprietary peptide,” Reis de Oliveira said. “We also know that science is evolving, and we are going to evolve together. We want to be the first ones to bring any advances in terms of addressing aging with the most effective peptides.”
According to Zonari, continued research could result in new ingredient findings and formula updates, though it’s early days.
“We continue being led by the research,” she said. “The commitment to continue researching novel ingredients that target or that are more efficient to target the root cause of skin aging is our mission.”
They are also planning to expand the team with this raise.
“The second piece [of the raise] is to build our team and bring seasoned professionals both for marketing, operations to continue to level up our growth [and] our performance,” Reis de Oliveira said.
Reis de Oliveira said the team is also focused on expanding the brand’s presence through different channels, particularly professional. The team said physical retail won’t happen in the near future, but it is an eventual goal as they seek out the appropriate partners.
In terms of future product, the brand plans to expand across skin and body care — it recently launched its Triple Power OS-01 Body SPF, $54. The team also hinted that an adjacent category is on the horizon.
While this raise allowed the brand to tap former investors, there are some new brand fans on the cap table, particularly Alves McConaughey who the team immediately connected with.
“She came introduced by one of our investors, and she started using the products and fell in love,” Reis de Oliveira said. “[She’s a] fellow Brazilian also in the United States and connected with our story. We’re coincidentally from the same state, and Alessandra grew up in a town that’s 30 minutes from where she grew up.”
Zonari added: “When we heard that she liked our products, I was super excited because it’s the same heritage of us.”
Alves McConaughey shared via email: “I fell in love with OneSkin the moment I saw results using the body cream… you know, for that area above the knees. I could visually see the difference in a short period of time, and that’s when I immediately said, ‘How can I be a part of this?’ I then started using the face cream and the eye cream, which are both now a part of my consistent skin routine together with other products. How much do I like the face and eye creams? Let’s just say you find them next to my bed on a regular basis! As a proud investor and personal user I am looking forward to seeing how OneSkin continues on its journey to change skin from the inside out.”
