Kenya-based Skincare Brand, Uncover secures $1M for Expansion across Africa
Africa’s beauty and personal care market is expanding rapidly as a result of its growing young and fashion-conscious population, rising purchasing power, and urbanization.
The market’s potential has attracted major brands in recent years, with Fenty Beauty by Rihanna and LVMH being the most recent entrants.
Niche local brands are also arising to provide customized beauty and skin care products. Uncover Skincare, based in Kenya, is one of them, and it aims to revolutionize the sector through data-driven manufacturing that is in line with the needs of the modern African woman.
Uncover is scaling its operations in Kenya and expanding to Nigeria in January, thanks to a $1 million seed funding. This comes after the company recently launched a new line of skin care products, with plans to expand further next year. Its products are sold through its online platform, marketplaces, and partner brand stores.
“We plan to use the funding to launch more products, expand into new markets, and double down on our technology and data to effectively produce, reach, and market to our audience,” Uncover co-founder and CEO Sneha Mehta told TechCrunch.
The round included angel investors ex-SokoWatch COO Kwenhui Tawah and ex-L’Oreal executive and current WPP Scangroup CEO Patricia Ithau, as well as FirstCheck Africa, Samata Capital, Future Africa, and IgniteXL. Uncover has now raised $1.225 million in total funding since its inception in 2020.
Mehta co-founded Uncover with Jade Oyateru (COO) and Catherine Lee (Advisor), with the goal of creating a data-driven, digital-first health and wellness brand for African women by leveraging their experience and expertise.
Mehta has over ten years of experience assisting businesses in Africa to scale, and Oyateru is a nutritionist and consumer goods expert. Lee is a former economist who is now a filmmaker.
After incubation at Antler, Uncover was launched. It makes use of African botanicals and outsources manufacturing to Korean original design manufacturers, who they claim ensure their products are “healthy, safe, affordable, and effective.”
“Our manufacturing takes place in Korea (one of the world’s largest beauty markets), where we use 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 generously provided information and tried our products, allowing us to formulate specifically for this market,” Mehta explained.
To reach more users, the startup also provides virtual consultations through an in-house esthetician, creates skin-tertainment content, and recently launched a skin quiz for personalized recommendations.
“I have firsthand experience with a lack of product safety, a lack of information, and a sense of being stuck.” This is one of the reasons we are developing these tools to provide people with personalized information and advice, including diet tips.”
Mehta claims that the startup’s revenue has more than doubled since its inception, thanks to increased demand for its products and the community it is building.
“We’ve had incredible traction since, and our Kenyan community has grown from zero to around 60,000 women in two years… “We have established brand awareness, loyalty, and our values of education, knowledge, and empowerment in the market,” she said.
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.
