The NX NIVEA Accelerator was established in Seoul, South Korea, in 2019. Shortly after, in the same year, Beiersdorf made its first venture investment in Korean beauty start-up LYCL Inc. In 2020, Beiersdorf launched CHAUL, a premium face care brand developed exclusively in Asia as its own start-up through the NX NIVEA Accelerator innovation hub.
Following the success of its NX NIVEA Accelerator in Seoul, South Korea, Beiersdorf is expanding the program to Shanghai, China, and has selected 5 start-ups for the first cohort. 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 start-ups.
The accelerator program supports and develops indie brands and beauty tech start-ups that share Beiersdorf’s ambition to shape, create, and deliver the future of skincare 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.+.”
For the NX program in Shanghai, Beiersdorf is collaborating with beauty start-ups focused on 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 skincare 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 following start-ups will form the first cohort:
Through the strategic partnership with Beiersdorf, the beauty start-ups will have access for six months to the company’s global network of over 160 affiliates, more than 20,000 employees, and nearly 140 years of leading skincare 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 start-ups in the areas of research and development, marketing, and office space. The start-ups will receive exclusive access to the state-of-the-art laboratories, as well as intensive support and training.
