Nairobi-based skincare company, Uncover, has raised $1 million in seed capital to expand its operations in Kenya and establish a presence throughout Africa.
KAMPALA, UGANDA | NOW THEN DIGITAL — Uncover Skincare, a Kenya-based skincare company, has raised USD1 million to expand across Africa. In January, the Nairobi-based business will open a Nigerian office.
- With USD1 million raised, Kenya’s Uncover skincare firm seeks to expand across Africa. Uncover is opening an office in Nigeria in January.
- In a report by Euromonitor, Nigeria is ranked as one of the major beauty and personal-brand markets on the continent, with a market value of N1tr.
- Jade Oyateru, Uncover Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, said the company’s goal is to provide women across Africa with safe, effective, and affordable skin care.
Key investors include FirstCheck Africa, Samata Capital, Future Africa, IgniteXL as well as a number of angel investors.
Eloho Omame, Co-Founder & General Partner of FirstCheck Africa, commented on the funding in the following way:
“Since we invested, the company’s growth has been incredible, and the team is already working on its third country entry. FirstCheck Africa is thrilled to have been one of Uncover’s earliest backers.”
The Company said plans were underway to expand into the Nigerian market in January 2023. Nigeria, one of the major beauty and personal-brand markets on the continent, values at N1tr, according to a report by Euromonitor.
“We are so proud of this important milestone in our journey and couldn’t be more excited to have our new investors as partners. The funds will be used to fund the launching of more products, going into additional markets and also improving on our tech and data to effectively produce, reach and market to our audience,” Sneha Mehta, CEO of Uncover said.
“We are so proud of this important milestone in our journey and couldn’t be more excited to have our new investors as partners. The funds will be used to fund the launching of more products, going into additional markets and also improving on our tech and data to effectively produce, reach and market to our audience,” Uncover CEO Sneha Mehta said.
Jade Oyateru, co-founder and chief operations officer of Uncover, said the company’s goal is to provide women throughout Africa with safe, effective, and affordable skincare.
“We are making African women a priority and not an afterthought. I am excited that this investment will aid our expansion plans to markets on the continent,” Ms Oyateru said.
Ms Mehta said since its launch the startup’s revenue had grown many-fold, buoyed by the growing demand for its products, recording 20x growth in monthly revenue and garnering a loyal and highly engaged community of almost 60K women.
“The rapid traction we’ve seen in 24 months since launch is testament to the need for healthy, safe and affordable women’s health products specifically made for women of color combined with digitally enabled customer education and product discovery tools,” Ms Mehta said.
Uncover, born out of a global VC accelerator (Antler) is a data-driven, digital-first women’s brand made specifically to address women’s health and wellness in Africa – the world’s fastest-growing but most underserved beauty personal care market.
Best technology
Uncover uses African botanicals and outsources its manufacturing to the Republic of Korea (South Korea) – one of the world’s biggest beauty markets, where it is leveraging the country’s top-notch technology, labs and scientists to create stable testing, safe ingredients and formulations for its products.
“By doing so, we have ensured that our products are healthy, safe, nourishing, affordable and effective and specifically made for women in Africa,” Ms Oyateru said.
Uncover was co-founded by Mehta and Jade Oyateru (Chief Operations Officer), and Catherine Lee (advisor), who was inspired to build a data-driven, digital-first health and wellness brand for African women by leveraging their experience and expertise.
Mehta has over 10 years of experience helping businesses scale across Africa, while Oyateru is a nutritionist and consumer goods, expert. Lee is an economist turned filmmaker.
“Sneha, Jade and Catherine are an impressive trio of ambitious female entrepreneurs building a differentiated, first-of-its-kind company in Africa. Uncover’s products are an innovative blend of Korean skincare technology and African ingredients, and the founders are leveraging data and community to build a category leader with global potential,” Ms Omame concluded.
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