Launch Date: August 2021
Geography: Irvine, CA, US
Founders:
Executive Team:
Board Members:
2026 Full Year Projected Revenue: $50M - $75M, according to industry estimates
Primary Category: Skincare
Other Categories:
Funding: Venture Capital
Primary Distribution Channel: Professional
Other Distribution Channel: Independent Retailers
Key Retail Partners:
Key Markets:
2026 Projected Offline Distribution Points: 10,000
Epicutis is a luxury, medical-grade skincare line defined by clinical integrity, biotech innovation, and uncompromising safety. As the only EWG Verified professional skincare brand, Epicutis offers proven, powerful, and 100% nontoxic formulas that deliver results without unnecessary ingredients or hidden irritants.
Rooted in the ethos of “minimal ingredients, maximum results, complete transparency,” each product is formulated with patented, novel active ingredients developed through advanced biotechnology. These actives, engineered by the scientific team at Signum Biosciences and born from discoveries by Princeton biophysicist Dr. Jeffry Stock, are exceptionally pure, stable, and potent. Because the molecules are inherently effective on their own, Epicutis is able to create elegantly minimal formulations that do not rely on fillers, preservatives, or harsh stabilizers.
Epicutis is as gentle as it is effective. The entire line is safe for pregnancy, breastfeeding, and post-procedure care. Designed for all skin types and all ages, Epicutis offers a universally compatible, clinically backed routine that strengthens the skin barrier, restores balance, and delivers visible transformation with every use.
Insights: Maxwell Stock, Co-Founder + CEO
Why now and why you?
Epicutis represents the future of professional skincare: biotech-powered, transparent, and exceptionally safe, without compromising luxury or results.
What fuels your competitive advantage?
With a biotech background and over 20 years of R&D, Epicutis was born in one of the most advanced scientific laboratories in the world at Princeton University. This first-of-its kind professional skincare brand applies the wisdom of drug research technologies to the development of topical ingredients and products.
Epicutis’ proprietary novel ingredients include:
-TSC (diosodium tetramethylhexadecenyl succinoyl cysteine), a novel molecule that acts as a super-lipid, dramatically improving skin’s natural barrier function while helping to shield it from a variety of environmental aggressors—including UV rays and pollution.
-Hyvia, a novel moisturizing agent derived from organic non-GMO chia seed oil, that delivers stable potent omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids—working at the cellular level to help boost hydration, calm inflammation, and fight fine lines, wrinkles, and other visible signs of skin aging.
-DSD (disodium S-phytyl diglycoloylcysteine) is a powerful, proprietary antioxidant that protects against environmental stressors by blocking UV and pollution induced skin damage.
All formulas are guaranteed 100% nontoxic and are EWG-verified.
What’s your proudest accomplishment to date??
Epicutis’ biggest win is when someone who has struggled with their skin for years, tried every product under the sun, and still has irritation and redness, sees results. When those people use the simple Epicutis system, within a few days, they see results in their skin. Those are the super fans! When someone calls you crying with joy that they finally found something that works, is clean, and feels amazing, that's really the only win we need as a company to continue sharing these products with the world. These super fans and their stories have allowed Epicutis to expand very quickly. Epicutis has tripled in size, sales, and impact in the last year, and this is just the beginning!
What is the one thing you wish someone had told you?
Education is always a challenge. So many people, clinicians and clients alike, have been taught over the years that they should use harsh ingredients to treat their skin when in fact, what most people need is to heal their skin from all the damage they have done with toxic ingredients. Epicutis’ challenge is to help people unlearn what they think they know about skincare, and that a lot of what they know is just a great marketing story.
What would you tell your past self before starting this journey?
I’d tell myself to hold the line; stay rooted in the science, even when the industry tries to pull you toward shortcuts. This industry is full of big promises and flashy marketing, but real, lasting impact comes from evidence, integrity, and patience. Trust that consumers will eventually crave transparency and tech-driven solutions. If you stay focused on real biochemical innovation, everything else will fall into place.
What does success look like in the next 3-5 years?
Through Epicutis, we are setting a new standard in skincare, putting more onus on manufacturers to produce clean, effective, and truly active ingredients—and to include them at higher concentrations. We truly are changing and cleaning up the industry!
What's one industry trend that is overhyped, and what's being overlooked?
One of the most overhyped trends right now is ingredient stacking. The idea that more ingredients automatically mean better results. We’re seeing products with 20, 30, even 40 actives mixed together without considering stability, compatibility, or how they actually behave on skin. It makes for great marketing but not great science.
Another overhyped trend in skincare is this obsession with “anti-aging,” as if aging is something we’re supposed to fight or erase. It leads to exaggerated claims, overly aggressive formulas, and a focus on marketing language instead of real skin biology.
What’s being completely overlooked is the fact that healthy skin naturally looks younger; you don’t need harsh ingredients or 10-step routines. When you strengthen the barrier, reduce inflammation, and use highly stable biotech-engineered molecules, the skin performs better at every age. The future isn’t anti-aging. The future is skin health. And when you focus on restoring lipid structure, repairing cellular stress, and supporting the skin’s natural functions, the results speak for themselves.
How do you think the industry needs to evolve?
The industry needs to evolve by shifting from marketing-driven storytelling to science-driven accountability. For too long, skincare has been built around trends, buzzwords, and anti-aging promises that aren’t grounded in real biology. Consumers deserve clarity, not confusion.
I believe the future of skincare is transparency—showing the data, showing the molecular pathways, and formulating with ingredients that actually have biochemical validation behind them. We also need to simplify. Most people are using too many products that overlap or counteract each other.
If the industry focused on strengthening the skin barrier, reducing inflammation, and using fewer, higher-quality, biotech-engineered molecules, we’d see far better outcomes. Skin health should be the goal—not selling the myth that aging is something we can reverse with a new trend every year.
If you could wave a magic wand, what one wish would you make for your business?
Greater transparency in the industry! If I could wave a magic wand, I would eliminate all the misinformation and noise in skincare. Imagine an industry where every claim is backed by real science, consumers aren’t overwhelmed with hype, and brands are held to the same level of transparency we hold ourselves to in biotech.
If that were the standard, the impact on skin health—and on trust—would be extraordinary. People would choose products based on data, not marketing, and brands built on real innovation would thrive. That’s the future I want for Epicutis and for the industry as a whole.