NX NIVEA accelerator selects first top five startups for new program in Shanghai, China
Beiersdorf signs partnership agreement with China’s leading eCommerce platform Tmall to co-incubate Chinese startups
The program’s focus is on developing innovative indie brands and beauty tech startups
Hamburg/Seoul/Shanghai, June 17, 2021 – Following the success of its NX NIVEA Accelerator in Seoul, South Korea, Beiersdorf is expanding the program to Shanghai, China and has now selected the top 5 startups for the first batch. In June 2019, NX NIVEA was launched as Beiersdorf's first global beauty startup accelerator in Korea and has since achieved a leading market position there. The accelerator program supports and develops indie brands and beauty tech startups which share Beiersdorf’s ambition to shape, create and deliver the future of skin care to consumers. “Our goal is to become the leading beauty accelerator in Asia by 2022,” said Zhengrong Liu, Member of the Executive Board of Beiersdorf for Greater China/Northeast Asia. “By teaming up with local innovators, we accelerate the process to identify and develop visionary beauty concepts, unlock growth potentials and win with skin care in line with Beiersdorf’s business strategy C.A.R.E.+.”
In order to jointly establish new brands on the market quickly and efficiently, Beiersdorf has signed a partnership agreement with China's largest B2C platform Tmall from the Alibaba Group to co-incubate Chinese startups. Existing skin care brands from Beiersdorf's portfolio such as NIVEA, EUCERIN, LA PRAIRIE, and HANSAPLAST are already successfully represented on Tmall.
For the NX program in Shanghai, Beiersdorf is focusing on collaborating with beauty startups from the areas of indie brands, beauty technology, personalization, and platform business models with a high degree of digitalization. In addition, Beiersdorf is particularly open to global indie brands in the skin care sector that want to enter the Chinese market and build their own local teams in Shanghai. “We believe the expansion will create synergies between Beiersdorf and disruptive beauty startups in China thus further driving our innovation power in the region,” said Shirley Xue, General Manager of Beiersdorf Northeast Asia.
After reviewing more than 100 candidates for the new accelerator program in Shanghai and a thorough evaluation of their business potential, innovativeness, and team capabilities, the NX jury has chosen the following startups to form the first batch:
BASIC Lab: Skin care brand focusing on no more than 12 ingredients in every product promoting the minimalistic skin care philosophy of simplified clean ingredients
2XY: Genderless skin care brand inspired by ingredients extracted from nature
Turflan: Scientific skin care with high-potency products in cooperation with international research institutes
MOJA: An indie brand specializing in pure high efficiency formulas for healing skin care
Through the strategic partnership with Beiersdorf, the selected beauty startups will now benefit for six months from the company’s global network of over 160 affiliates, more than 20,000 employees, and nearly 140 years of leading skin care expertise. In addition, Beiersdorf’s newly opened Innovation Center in Shanghai – the company’s second largest research center in the world after Hamburg – will support the startups in the areas of research and development, marketing, and office space. Furthermore, the startups will receive exclusive access to the state-of-the-art laboratories, as well as intensive support and training.
About the NX NIVEA Accelerator For the Accelerator program, established in Seoul in 2019, Beiersdorf opened a new, exclusive venue to collaborate with startups in Hongdae, the center of beauty and fashion trends in Seoul. Shortly after in the same year, Beiersdorf made its first venture investment in Korean beauty startup LYCL Inc. In 2020, Beiersdorf launched CHAUL, a new and first premium face care brand developed exclusively in Asia as its own startup through the NX NIVEA Accelerator innovation hub. |
