36Kr Exclusive: Cosmetic raw material manufacturer "Guanchen Bio" completes Angel + round of financing, benchmarking against international players.
36Kr has learned that the cosmetic raw material manufacturer "Guan Chen Bio" has recently completed the Angel + round of financing. This round is led by Kai Feng Ventures, with Chizi Fund and Tsinghua Alumni Seed Fund participating, and the angel round investor Shunwei Capital continues to increase its investment. The funds will be mainly used to improve the R & D pipeline and supplement working capital.
"Guan Chen Bio" is a company that 36Kr has been following closely. It was established in September 2021, with the concept of "Technology Creates Beauty", developing innovative cosmetic ingredients. The founder, Qiao Jian, studied at Tsinghua University and National University of Singapore from undergraduate to doctoral level. He has worked for internationally renowned cosmetic brands Beiersdorf, L'Oreal, and international raw material company Evonik, with rich industry experience. Currently, as a beauty science popularization blogger, he has millions of fans across the entire network.
As a cosmetic raw material manufacturer based on innovative technology, this is the basic positioning of Guan Chen Bio - "We do not want to make products following the'me too' idea, but rather rely on newer technologies." In Qiao Jian's view, if after research, the cost per kilogram of a mature active raw material is reduced from tens of thousands of yuan to several thousand yuan, it will not have substantial significance, and instead may fall into repetitive and low-cost involution and competition. Therefore, innovative technology has become the most core differentiating point of Guan Chen Bio.
When the Angel round of financing was completed in February this year, the two R & D orientations planned by Guan Chen Bio were clean beauty and efficacy, and the key technologies it focused on were photolysis technology, delivery technology, etc. Although it is still in a relatively early stage of development, after nearly a year of development, Guan Chen Bio has established a preliminary product framework based on four technical platforms: First, a complex fruit acid of natural origin; second, a photolyzed plant essence based on photolysis technology; third, a targeted delivery system; fourth, an active substance embedding technology.
According to Qiao Jian, around the above four technical platforms, Guan Chen Bio will achieve mass production of products within the period from the end of this year to the first quarter of next year. Currently, it has carried out business cooperation with emerging domestic brands and international cosmetic companies.
Going further, what Guan Chen Bio hopes to do is, on the basis of purity and efficacy, to jump out of the perspective of ingredients and meet the emotional value of consumers. In Qiao Jian's understanding, "When consumers make decisions, efficacy is a very important part, but the'scientific story' is also an important factor in differentiated competition and touching users." The new platform technology can precisely meet this demand. Compared with other raw material manufacturers in the same industry, this awareness makes the R & D of Guan Chen Bio more market-oriented.
In previous reports, we once mentioned that there are recognized authorities "ABCDE" in the field of cosmetic raw materials - Ashland, BASF, Croda, DSM, Evonik. Qiao Jian mentioned that the long-term goal of Guan Chen Bio is to benchmark against these international and refined manufacturers. First, it will thoroughly explore the cosmetic track that the team is familiar with. After the technology is solid enough, it will attempt to expand application scenarios in broader industries such as health products, pharmaceutical excipients, and feed additives.
Investors' Views
Kai Feng Ventures stated: The Guan Chen team has both a keen market sense and a solid R & D strength, deeply understands the needs of different ecological niches in the cosmetics industry, and has the ability to continuously introduce new products. Kai Feng looks forward to working hand in hand with the passionate and sincere Guan Chen team to witness the rise of innovative cosmetic raw materials in China.
Ma Yeqing from the Shunwei Investment Team stated: "We have observed that efficacy and purity are the two major trends in the current Chinese beauty market. The Shunwei team is optimistic about the Guan Chen team's industry insight, technical ability, and commercialization ability, and expects Guan Chen to contribute more innovative products to the beauty industry."
Chen Weijin, Chairman of Chizi Fund, stated: "Currently, raw material innovation has become the 'chip' of the cosmetics industry, but the domestic cosmetic raw material industry cannot fully meet the downstream market demand in terms of innovation. Under such a trend and gap, Guan Chen Bio, as a rare emerging raw material enterprise in China that mainly focuses on carrier innovation and process innovation, will bring more innovations to the cosmetics industry and help upgrade the local cosmetics industry."
Tsinghua Alumni Seed Fund: Guan Chen is a multi-technology-driven innovative raw material company. Its long-term development is benchmarked against Evonik, the world's largest specialty chemicals company. We are optimistic about the team's market sense and new technology integration ability. The industry is large, and currently, it is a window period for integration.