Launch Date: November 2020
Geography: New York City, New York
Founders:
Notable Advisor: Divya Gugnani, Founder, Wander Beauty; Founder, 5 Sens
Board Member: Mike Giordano, CFO + COO, Merit
Notable Investors:
2026 Full Year Projected Revenue: $8M - $10M, according to industry estimates
Primary Category: Skincare
Other Category: Tools/Devices
Funding: Venture Capital
Primary Distribution Channel: Amazon
Other Distribution Channels:
Key Retail Partners:
2026 Projected Offline Distribution Points: 280
In a sea of undifferentiated launches, Experiment Beauty stands out as a fresh take on the clinical skincare category. Founded in 2020 by chemists Lisa Guerrera and Emmy Ketcham, Experiment Beauty takes a sterile, self-serious space and makes it fun, functional, and genuinely inspiring for a new generation of highly educated (and very online) consumers.
Where much of the clinical category strips science down to utilitarian, lab-coat minimalism, Experiment Beauty reimagines what science can look and feel like in beauty through innovative formulas, singular brand world-building, and education as marketing, led by the chemists behind every product.
At an accessible, masstige price point, Experiment Beauty turned a “boring” ingredient into a skintellectual fave with its viral Super Saturated 30% glycerin serum, widely credited with making glycerin cool and still the only one of its kind on the market. Grown through TikTok Shop, expanded to Amazon, and now at Sephora online and in stores, Experiment Beauty is setting a new standard: clinical skincare that's hot, smart, and effective.
Insights: Lisa Guerrera, Co-Founder + CEO
Why now and why you?
The skincare consumer has never been more educated and has never been more overwhelmed with redundant choice in the market. Viral TikToks talking about how all brand launches at Sephora look the same are commonplace now. Consumers are hungry for effective products at an accessible price point that feel different from everything else they’ve seen in this noisy market. Experiment Beauty hits all three of those sweet spots, and it’s why we’re able to grow even without a celebrity or mega-influencer founder; we are genuinely meeting a need consumers have now.
What fuels your competitive advantage?
Having two chemists at the helm of the brand means we have a very unique product development process. Most brands start with a marketing brief sent to an outsourced R&D lab, but at Experiment Beauty, we have an in-house lab and start with the question: “How do we make the best possible version of this skincare product?” That means formulating something that's highly effective and is truly missing from the category.
We start with the chemistry, the formula, the efficacy, and then we glove-fit the marketing to it rather than the other way around. That's why Experiment Beauty launches are so unique; we are telling a story tailor-made to each formula innovation.
What’s your proudest accomplishment to date?
Our Sephora launch: As an underdog brand that grew organically from the internet, without a celeb or mega-influencer as the face, we are proud to see the traction we’ve gained at Sephora!
What is the one thing you wish someone had told you?
$1 million goes way faster than you think. That was our first capital raise, and it felt like so much at the time.
What would you tell your past self before starting this journey?
It doesn’t get easier; the hard just gets different.
What does success look like in the next 3-5 years?
In the next few years, I imagine a world where Experiment Beauty is the blueprint and category leader for fun, science-backed brands.
What's one industry trend that is overhyped, and what's being overlooked?
Hyaluronic acid is extremely overhyped as a skincare ingredient. The power of soothing ingredients like allantoin are being overlooked still.
How do you think the industry needs to evolve?
I want to see the industry move past the shiny object syndrome when it comes to trendy ingredients; brands are using it in place of great storytelling.
If you could wave a magic wand, what one wish would you make for your business?
I wish everyone could try Super Saturated to see the results 30% glycerin can give you!