Launched: 2016
Key Executives:
2025 Full Year Expected Revenue Range: $30 to $50 million
2025 Projected Offline Distribution Points: 900+
Primary Category: Skincare
Key Markets: ASEAN, United States, European Union, Australia
Retail Partnerships: Dermstore, Mecca, Sephora
Primary Distribution Channel: Prestige
Other Distribution Channels: DTC, Third-Party E-Commerce
Funding Rounds: Seed
In March 2024, Meaningful Partners made a $20 million strategic growth investment in Allies of Skin
Total Funds Raised: $20 million
The world didn't need another beauty brand. It needed a new one.
We are Allies of Skin. The beauty brand that sees efficiency in efficacy. More than a name, the philosophy of allyship guides everything we do. We believe it is everyone’s birthright to feel empowered in their own skin and that taking care of yourself and your skin should be effortless. Our Vision? Make beauty more human. Our mission? Help you accomplish more with fewer steps thanks to an ethos we call "Supercharged Clinical." You can trust Allies of Skin to formulate clinically proven active ingredients like vitamin C, growth factors, and retinoids in maxed-out concentrations and put our own supercharged spin on them to provide multiple benefits in one step, achieving the unachievable in the industry and challenging the status quo.
Insights provided by Nicolas Travis, Founder + CEO
Key business initiatives for 2025?
Growing in the US—it’s our #1 market, and we’re building a team of stars in the US to help us go deeper.
We’ve developed a proprietary epidermal growth factors complex that we will be patenting.
We have incredible partners globally (SpaceNK in the UK, Sephora in ASEAN, Mecca in Australia and New Zealand, Tira Beauty in India (owned by the Ambani family—they are our distributors in India)), and 2025 will be spent going deeper and growing with them.
What are you most proud of having accomplished?
Turning my pain into a business that spreads joy and love. I had a severe accident at 19 where I smashed my face and needed to have reconstructive surgery. I picked what I thought was a good surgeon, but he ended up butchering my face. I had multiple infections and necrosis where the infection was eating the flesh on my skin, so I had holes in my face. After many failed surgeries and a failed suicide attempt, I’m proud that I was able to channel that self-hatred into creating products that help people feel more confident in their skin.
In 2016, when I launched Allies of Skin, I would go into buyer meetings and they would say, “Oh, you’re from Singapore. I didn’t know you had beauty brands. I only know of your airline and your cocktail (or that rooftop bar that looks like a surfboard).” We would laugh and then, they wouldn’t stock me. Peptides, skin microbiome, and encapsulated retinal weren’t really talked about much then, and as I only had money for three products, they didn’t know what to do with my brand. At that time, I was always the youngest and the only Asian in the room. I also had no idea what I was doing.
Fast forward to 2024, Allies of Skin is the most global Singaporean beauty brand and is retailed in four continents, 36 countries, and 800+ physical stores in 40 of the best beauty retailers. We hire 23 nationalities and speak 24 languages and have teams in Singapore, Berlin, Bangkok, Los Angeles, and London.
What has been the biggest surprise?
The organic love that we get for our formulas. We have hundreds of thousands of customers all around the world, and have celebrity fans like Pedro Pascal, Kaia Gerber, Rose Byrne, Julianne Moore, Henry Golding, January Jones, and Behati Prinsloo, among others.
What fuels your competitive advantage?
Our humanness. I founded this brand after years of pain and trauma, and I believe our vulnerability and transparency and our focus on creating innovative formulas that deliver visible results help us stand out. Our retention rate is over 44%, and our customers call themselves “allies” and are extremely sticky.
Insight on the future of the beauty industry.
I think it’s an exciting time to be in beauty, and I believe the future is one of greater transparency and one where brands are held accountable. More importantly, I believe consumers will crave brands that have a soul.
What is the best piece of advice you’ve been given?
A healer once told me that we are the answers to each other’s prayers. In life, you will get many “nos.” All you need is one person to take the chance on you and open the door for you—look for that one “yes.” Drown everything else out.
What is the best mistake you've ever made and what did you learn?
In the early days, I met some investors (who are no longer on our cap table), and I had the worst feeling in my stomach after meeting them. Dealing with toxic shareholders with huge egos and personal agendas taught me the importance of listening to my gut and trusting my intuition. It also taught me the importance of surrounding myself with people that filled my oxygen tank, not depleted it.
What advice would you give to someone contemplating launching a beauty brand?
Be relentless about creating the best product you can ever make. Know exactly why you started. Ask yourself why people should care and why they should spend their hard-earned money on your products. Once you have the answers to the questions, go all out for it and never give up.
If you could change one thing in the beauty industry what would it be?
Greenwashing. SPFs are not toxic, and there’s no such thing as “reef-safe” UV filters.
